


Getting the Crew back together

by MisterHix



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Breakout, Dark Eldar, Escape, Fire Warrior, Gen, Harlequin, Manipulation, Medic - Freeform, Mystery, Necron - Freeform, OC's - Freeform, Warhammer 40k - Freeform, battlesuit, incubus, kidnap, space, spacehulk, sslyth, tau - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26017891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisterHix/pseuds/MisterHix
Summary: An Eldar pirate wakes on a Tau ship, slowly remembering who he is as he frees his crew.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Harsh light and head pain was all he knew upon waking. Brilliant white blinded his sensitive eyes. His arms moved to block it and aching pain filled his limbs. His throat felt dry and wasted as he let out a truly raspy plea for it to stop.

Cacophony now, what muddled into words was noise and in the waking of his mind the knowledge of these words slotted themselves together like a puzzle he was relearning to solve.

"He's awake. Increase dosage of compound 6 for 4 beats."

This voice, it spoke to him, no familiarity to his mind. Shapes moved but he still could not see past the glare. He felt himself grow tired and the pain subsided.  
Drugs to make him weak. He resisted with what strength he had but it only hastened the effects. He knew how that worked but why didn't he remember before he tried?

Fool.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He woke from his dreams, sweet dreams they were but faded fast. He grokked a wrongness in that passing. Did he remember his dreams much before?  
What was before?

His pain was lessened when he moved and the light was dimmer now. He was trying to see as his eyes adjusted, blur gave grudgingly to clarity as he blinked himself into focusing on the shapes about him.

A ceiling, smooth and level, to his left was a console and to his right a table with a figure at it, their back to him as they went about whatever they were doing.

He was wet, laying in some slightly warm moisture, held in by something transparent. A field maybe or some material. He did not have the strength to care about such minor details. He needed to move and get out, something important was happening. He knew it and he was needed elsewhere.

His body did not move at his command though. It lay there trapping him in a cage of his own self. Though he could move his head his limbs defied him.  
*Better to have them cut off* He thought bitterly to himself.  
Again he tried to speak, call out but only a pained whine escaped his lips.  
It was enough though as the figure turned to respond to him.

He had never seen such a creature, blue skin and odd features, no nose to speak of, unless that opening in its forehead was one, with large expressive eyes. It came towards him and spoke.

"Please do not be alarmed, you are among the Tau now. You and your people have been rescued and we are seeing to your care."

The voice spoke his language, or at least a version of it. Slight changes to pronunciation and inflection but he understood it perfectly. How? How did she know his people when he had never seen or heard of any such creature as her.  
He assumed it was a female of the species given the style of clothing and the sound of the voice but he was still guessing.  
*I must be free*

"I... mu, mu..."

"Please do not try to speak, you have been in hibernation for a long time and your muscles are very weak." She advised.

"Hy... How?"

"Rest now, answers will come. I promise."

She fiddled with a dial on her wrist that he did not notice before and he felt the mist of drugs take him again.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When next he woke his patience had worn very thin and he grumbled in anger and frustration at his own helplessness.  
His arms felt stronger, perhaps even strong enough to move and raise him from the shallow pool of gel he found himself in.

When his head moved and his eyes roved over the room again he noticed the exit and the carer was not currently seen. Reaching up his arms he took hold of the rim of his container and pulled himself up with no small degree of effort.  
Huffing and panting his head and shoulders breached the top of the container but he did not allow himself to stop. Pressing on he tipped his torso over the edge and with a wet flup he smacked the floor, bruising his atrophied ribs and lay there in the gel puddle he'd brought with him.  
Panting on the floor he could not even clear his matted hair from out of his vision. His huffing gulps were clear and fresh as his body greedily hungered for more to give precious energy to his limbs. He did not know how long he lay there, or how much farther he would have to go to be free of this place but at some point, he managed to roll over with a grunt and make a sprawled crawl for the door.

As he pulled his body to the portal he found he could not reach the control pad and what's more, he could not read the panels icons. This place was alien to him and the door did not open automatically.  
As he lay with his face on its side his eye fell upon the table and he reasoned that if this be a place of surgery, then there must be tools to cut and by which a means of escape when someone comes through that door, as they no doubt would.  
His arms ached and his legs still felt almost too weak to not feel useless but he struggled and puffed and at last made it across the room. The frustration he felt at being barely able to move under his own power gave fire to his heart and determination to his motions and when he reached the table he dashed it to its side with a clumsy strike. The implements that fell on the floor brought a grin to his face and he quickly found a small blade he reasoned must be a form of scalpel. It was sharp and lacking an obvious place to hide it he made a shallow cut along the top of his thigh to draw attention that he might strike when whoever comes for him is distracted with that.

The scalpel was his tool but his knowledge of the enemies concern for his health was his weapon.

The door opened after a time, again he could not count the passing of it but it was not as long as he had expected it to be.  
He faced the wall and kept his eyes closed, the blade positioned to the palm of his hand that it might be hidden. The first thing he heard was a gasp and some words in an Alien language though he knew the voice, the woman from before.  
She was over to his side fussing over the wound in an instant. It was time and his motions were slow but he still had strength enough for this, sink the blade at the back of the neck, base of the skull and almost anything will die.  
It raised in his hand as high as he could manage and began to steer it down to her bare flesh, a little more, a little more, don't hurry, just do it in time.

His strength waned again, his mind recoiled at his blurring vision and sudden dizziness. The blade fell from his fingers and even the clang of it on the floor was delayed in his ears.  
He heard the alien woman's voice again but it was distant and muffled. He did not want to go back in the box, that surgical coffin. He hated it. He needed, he needed... what? What was he trying to remember?  
A place, another place that could move, he moved it.  
A vessel in a sea of night.  
A starship, no, his starship.

"My... ship..." He uttered it in a wavering voice before he once more lost consciousness.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he woke again he remembered his dreams, his ship and his crew. All that he was came back to him in a flood of wariness.  
His eyes opened to the cold bright light and shone like dark marbles. Slowly he raised himself up out of the tank in one fluid motion. The attendant woman was there again, her back to him as she worked on the console in a chair.  
He leaned on the edge of the clear box, letting drops of the strange fluid hit the floor as he draped his slender body there. Before he spoke, he smiled wide and when he spoke she visibly jumped in her seat in surprise.

"Is there some reason I was not held in shackles?" He asked, almost playfully.

The Tau woman turned about in her chair and faced him,one hand on her chest.  
"Forgive me, you're not well enough yet, please lay down and allow the procedure to finish." She instructed once she controlled her nerves enough.

"How do you know The Old Tongue?" He continued, ignoring her request.

"You are not the first Aeldari to grace us, we have had many agreeable exchanges with your people over many Cycles." She told him patiently before adding "Now please, lay down and allow the bath to take full effect."

"No." He began to stand up, thankfully his body didn't buckle under his own weight.

"I must insist..." The Woman began but he cut her off by leaping out of the tank and onto the floor before her.

"You insist on nothing." He informed her, his dark eyes glowering. Even naked as he was and dripping with goo he cast an imposing figure and well he knew it. The Tau Woman leaned back in her chair to try and distance herself from him, her hand splayed across the console.  
"Now, " He began leaning over her, drinking in the essence of her fear with each breath "you will answer all that I ask."  
Her wide eyes were lost inside his own as she managed a trembling nod of affirmation.  
"Where am I?"  
"The Voice of Prophecy. It's a Vessel of the Tau Empire."  
"Where is my ship?"  
"It's stuck."  
"Stuck where?"  
Her eyes flashed to a wall then back.  
"There." She pointed towards the wall as it began to dissolve, becoming translucent.  
He turned his head slowly and looked outside the window.  
It was a nightmare come to reality. A tangled mass of broken ships and meteorites that formed the body of the Space Hulk.  
More memories returned to him.  
The Hulk appeared out of warp space around their vessel, they crashed into one of its many gigantic caverns. Something else, an anomaly. Gas that turned to crystal trapped his crew, trapped him, on the deck.  
"You found us."  
"W,we rescued you all of you. We only wanted to help."

He was lost for a moment, trapped in his own remembering. He did not see the Woman activate a switch that alerted the security personnel outside the door. Two armed guards with short stun batons entered the room barking strangely. As he turned to face them he noted they were shorter than he by a head and a half. He gave them a sneer.  
He was learning much from them in such a short time and now he had an opportunity to judge their skill at arms. Such a wondrous treat, to awaken after such a long time and be greeted with new foes to dominate.

He wasted no time in lunging towards the first guard and attempted to wrest the baton from him. The other swung at him but his actions were slow, clumbsy and easily avoided as he positioned the first guard between himself and the second. When the baton stuck the first guard he felt a bolt of energy course through his arms. The shock knocked out the first guard and forced him to let go, stepping back in pain.  
"Such interesting toys." He chided.  
The second guard rushed him, attempting to take advantage of what he must have perceived as his enemies retreat in fear. A quick successive grip of the guards forearm and a twist of his hips sent the second guard crashing through the tank at the rooms center. Neither of them moved again. The woman had not moved.  
"Your guards fight like children. If that is the extent of your peoples warriors then I fear I have no choice but to enlighten you."  
He knew this feeling, victory, dominion, it pleased him. It was comfort, more than that, power. He felt it when the guards entered, it fueled him. It was curious. He recalled that this feeling was good but once his opponents lost consciousness it was gone. Now only present in the woman. She was afraid of him, the guards also.  
Yes, that was it. Fear gave him a boost to his vitality, it waned now but he could rekindle it.  
He must rekindle it. Again he approached the woman who had not moved from her position. "You speak my tongue, you know this place. You will come with me."  
She did not answer or even look at him, her gaze was fixed on the body of the guard he had sent through the tank. His body was soaked in the medical goo and splayed with shards of brittle glass.  
"You feel for this one?"  
Her large eyes spoke confirmation.  
"Then you will answer all my questions, or this one will die here."  
Her fear spiked again and he smiled.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over 400 Solar Cycles.  
He had been in hibernation, trapped in golden crystal for longer than he would have believed. After the woman, her name she insisted was Vu'atta, had told him where his effects and crew were being held he made sure to dress himself in his attire, boots and straps with a cape and slender chainsword with splinter pistol. His mask he donned last and connected the wires into his own body, taking a few deep breaths to kickstart the circular system that linked external stimulus to his internal body. It is through this connection that he was able to transmit pain from his enemies and into his own body where their suffering would nourish him.

Vu'atta took little convincing to come with him and as she led him down to the corridor to the medical room where the first of his crew was being held. His right arm (or rather arms) and close friend, A Sslyth named Kaass.  
Guards also stood outside this room as they were his own and he had instructed Vu'atta to gain them access or he would kill them in ways most painful and frightening to behold. She agreed before he felt the need to give descriptions. He was finding these Tau most easily manipulated into obedience. It puzzled him how such a people might create and empire at all let alone one with such technology in great advancement over others such as the Mon-keigh. The mystery was tantalizing.  
Vu'atta spoke her language to the guards who seemed wary of him. He tasted fear but it was not from them, it was beyond the door. Kaass could not feel fear, it was a most desirable of her many qualities. So the source must be more of these Tau healers. Behind his mask he grinned at the concept of her playing with them. If he was frightening then indeed she must be altogether terrifying.  
Upon entering the room he saw Kaass behind a large clear window, no doubt reinforced with some field, where she swayed back and forth, a sign of irritation in her people. Her four arms raised against the barrier and her forked tongue flicked in and out of her scaly head. The great muscular tail that was her lower body could crush bones to powder with ease. No sooner had he entered than she locked her slit irises with his and uttered a word, "Captain!".  
He knew it, he knew he was a captain and though he could not yet remember it all he knew of her ways and that to betray any weakness would mean she would no longer obey him. Only strength was to be obeyed.  
There were two more of the Tau in the room aside from Vu'atta and without pause he drew his pistol and shot them, the tiny shards penetrated their skin and sent waves of pain through their nervous systems as they writhed on the ground.  
"You promised they would not be killed." Vu'atta protested, rushing to their side to inspect their wounds. The shards of crystal had already begun to shatter in their bodies and those splinters shatter further, leaking into their bloodstream and scraping their veins and arteries with cuts smaller than even their own blood vessels so that though the pain was great, damage would ultimately be minimal.  
"They will survive. I have not been false." He said, trying to work out the console next to the containment area.  
"Open it." He instructed her.  
A new look crossed her face, anger at him. The emotion was not as sweet as fear but he found its bitterness not unpleasant. Like a sour fruit. Yet she relented in her concern over her crewmate's and keyed in a series of notes that dissolved the barrier holding back Kaass. Instantly she darted towards him, coiling about his body wrapping him in her coils and tasting his face with her tongue. He was surprised by this but must have hidden it well as she was not aggressive in her motions, merely quick and powerful.  
"I missssed you Captain." she hissed. Her own version of the Old Tongue was rather simple but effective. Perhaps her vocal chords limited her speech. He'd think more upon it later, for now he had to keep himself alive.  
"And I you Kaass." He replied calmly and confidently. "I need my right arms I am to retake the Ship."  
Her head swayed to and fro.  
"This one, it iss asssisting you."  
He did not wrest his eyes from those of Kaass, some instinct beyond memory bid him keep them there. It told him she was testing him.  
"She serves me until I can free the crew and get to the ship."  
Kaass leaned over to Vu'atta and with one of her left arms she reached out to her, Vu'atta flinched and Kaass relented.  
"I want her, when we return to the Ssship." Kaass meant it. Was this some part of their closeness? A means of trade in service? He did not remember but he felt he must make a solid reply and be unmoved in it regardless.  
"She is mine, until I grow weary of her or she proved useless."  
It took a long moment and when he felt her coils tighten about him a fraction his hand went to the handle of his chainsword. Her grip loosened and she seemed satisfied.  
"Mussst I remain naked asss a hatchling?" She asked as she uncoiled herself and half slithered half crawled to the door.  
He turned to address Vu'atta, "My first mate needs her things, retrieve them."  
Again that harsh look crossed her face, it was becoming defiance yet he had need of her for a while yet. Until then, as long as she obeyed he would keep her alive.  
When Kaass's clothing and armaments had been returned to her she looked much more comfortable. The rifle slung about the back of her armoured jacket and a brace of pistols at her side meant she was now even more formidable than her natural physique allowed. She pressed against the door and licked it with her tongue.  
"Two." She said looking pointedly at Vu'atta.  
"No." Vu'atta protested, "No killing, please."  
"Then you have work to do." He suggested and once more she spoke to the guards, though this time they seemed to resist. Insisting on them staying. He grokked the meaning of this though the language was foreign. They had not been idle while Kaass had been freed. Like good little soldiers they had alerted their superiors and now bloodshed was becoming unavoidable.  
He drew his pistol again and Kaass followed suit. A few blasts of well aimed fire and the guards were finished. Vu'atta screamed panic and ran, Kaass followed, using her lower arms to grab the floor as a biped might use legs to give speed to her movements. Within a moment she had caught Vu'atta and with her coiled within her muscular tail had begun to choke the life out of her.  
He approached with his weapon drawn.  
"I did not expect you to become difficult so soon."  
She squirmed, still trying to escape though it was futile. Her eyes held fear again, the almost blind panic that he found so nourishing.  
"Please," she begged again "please, I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"  
Part of him wondered that himself. Though he knew the answers lay on his ship he could not betray that lack of knowledge in front of Kaass without risking her turning on him.  
"What was it you said to me earlier? Oh yes, answers will come in time."  
Kaass tongue tasted the air and she unslung her rifle.  
"It seems we are out of time for now. So unless you want us to carve a bloody swathe through every deck of this admittedly fascinating vessel you will continue to guide us to the rest of my crew and then, to my ship."  
"I will!" Vu'atta finally answered.  
"You said that before and you ran. I want more than your word."  
"Wha, what more can I give?"  
"Your life. All of it, long years and short. You will join my crew and from this moment you are my property alone." He ignored the look Kaass gave him as he waited for Vu'atta to reply.  
From down the hall footsteps could be heard approaching fast.  
"You claim to treasure life." He challenged her "Prove it now."  
"I cannot. I must not betray my Caste."  
He readied his pistol in the direction of the oncoming guards and Kaass followed suit.  
"Then live in knowledge that they die to protect your place with them."  
Vu'atta's face became one of tortured anguish as she wrestled with the twin desires of protecting others and herself.  
A troop of soldiers rounded the far corner of the corridor and they took positions, well regimented movements. They each had rifles, the make of which he had never seen before.  
He felt his finger squeeze the trigger...  
"STOP!"  
It was Vu'atta's voice that cried out. She now spoke to the Tau in their language. He and Kaass waited patiently. There was a brief back and forth among them until at last Vu'atta addressed him again.  
"They will not let you go." She relayed.  
"Then it is death." He retorted and opened fire.  
The firefight lasted a few moments, their weapons were impressive, hurling powerful pulses at them with great accuracy but they had better cover in the medical room and were quickly picking off assailants.  
"More will come sssoon." Kaass warned as they picked over the dead and paralysed bodies of the guards. Vu'atta was held aloft in two of her arms.  
"Then we must hurry." He agreed.  
"There was two more with us on the deck of my ship. A warrior clad in armour and another in colourful clothes. Where are they?" How did he remember Vlash and Yeiggo without knowing his own name?  
Vu'atta pointed down the corridor the guards came from and they were off once more.  
The next guards were put down as soon as they came into sight. They found Yeiggo deep in conversation with another of the Tau medics. She was naked but for a coat of seemingly alien origin. When He entered the room the Tau stood to confront him no sooner was it done, his mouth opening to ask the first of what no doubt would have been many questions than Yeiggo's hands found his throat and with two quick jerking motions life left his body and his corpse fell to the floor. Yieggo yawned and stretched.  
He had an image of her in his mind, dancing to music only she could hear. Singing songs to the empty space.  
"We are leaving then, Captain?" Her voice was rhythmic and carefree.  
"We are and we are taking this one with us." He indicated Vu'atta. "Get ready."  
Yieggo threw off the coat and made an elaborate bow. Vu'atta opened the hatch that held her things. They were so different from the others, covered in ornate patterns and designs of colour. Her weapons were a long coil of wire and a pistol. The last piece was a mask, which she donned only once her hair had been tied up with almost religious reverence.  
It bore a face, smiling hideously at them.  
Their last member was found in a room with no guards. It was quiet.  
When Vu'atta opened the door she vomited. Vlash sat on a shattered tank of broken with his back to the door, about him the dead bodies of four Tau, two medics and two guards. He had organized their bodies into macabre displays of bone and meat. Their skulls were removed and he was apparently cleaning each of them diligently in the flickering damaged light of the room.  
"I have been waiting for you Captain." His dry voice rasped.  
"And you have not been idle." He replied.  
Vlash paused for a moment before placing the final skull on the table next to him.  
"I sense, an emptiness in you Captain."  
His blood went cold and his hand flexed over his pistol grip.  
"You sense my hunger Vlash."  
"Is that it?" His voice held a violent promise.  
Something sparked in his mind. The promise of violence was not new to him from Vlash. He did it before, many times and once it even came to blows. He kept his position as Captain and gave Vlash a scar he would not forget.  
"Perhaps I need to remind you who is Captain or would you like me to make both sides of your face match?"  
Vlash turned his head and the great scar that shattered his left side was displayed for all to see. A deep impression where his once fine features lay.  
"I must be mistaken."  
"You are."  
Vlash stood and hoped down from the table onto the broken bits of bone and glass on the floor, his bare feet did not seem to bother him.  
"Who is the small one?"  
"She is our ticket back to the ship."  
Vlash's shattered face leered at Vu'atta.  
"Where are my things?"  
Recovery of Vlash's affairs was relatively simple. His glaive and daggers he inspected as soon as Vu'atta opened the locker but he seemed to care little for except a dark jewel embed in the chest. It shimmered with shadow. When he donned his helmet it was a cruel mask of hollow eyes and a high peak.  
The four of them looked to Vu'atta like monsters. Something out of a child's tale.  
They looked at her expectantly.  
"Please, no I don't want to go."  
The Captain picked up one of the immaculately cleaned skulls and approached her while turning it over in his slender hands.  
"Consider it this way." He started "You have a unique opportunity before you, to immerse yourself in a culture you seem vastly unfamiliar with or..." gripping Vu'atta's wrist he placed the skull into her hand it's empty sockets staring up at her.  
All she could do was stare back.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	2. Hangar's on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Captain and his cohorts reach the hangar to steal a ship and escape but it is not so easy as they had assumed.

"There'sss nothing here!" Kaass hissed throwing a murderous look at Vu'atta.  
Vu'atta slunk behind the Captain and tried not to be seen. She had done as instructed and led them to a hangar where they might get a vessel to travel to the Space Hulk but there were currently no ships in the vast hallway except for some light single serving scout ships and even then there was only three, not enough for all of them.  
The Captain gave a sigh of frustration, "It appears we are left to improvise. Vlash, sabotage those vessels. Yieggo, on that walkway, keep us covered."  
Yieggo leapt into action after a playful kiss blow at Vu'atta through her mask. Then she began to scale the walls like a spider, as if the texture was rough as the side of a mountain. Vlash gave only the slightest nod and stalked over to the vulnerable ships. It was then that Vu'atta noticed they were not alone, some Caste engineers were toiling on one of the ships and talking, she wanted to call out to them but Kaass was always watching here, one bright eye seemed to track her movement no matter how small. She willed them to turn as Vlash approached, screamed with her mind. Her body tensed as she hoped against hope that they would see him, raise the alarm, just run.  
Vlash's body seemed to flicker and fade with every other step, his glaive out behind him, almost scraping along the ground as he went. He was almost upon them when one of them finally noticed his approach and stood up to address him but it was as if Vlash simply closed the distance in a single step.  
Vu'atta could hear his startled cry as Vlash gripped him by his throat and lifted him as if he weighed nothing and hurled him well over the small space craft. With a spin and flick of his wrist he ended the next closest to him by opening his bowels.  
Vu'atta looked away and in a moment it was done. She heard then a fierce smashing and when she looked up the ships cockpit was sliced open, the top completely removed from all of them. Nobody was going anywhere on those. 

"Tell me," The Captain asked her "Where are the rest of this ships crew, this can't be all of them surely?"  
She knew but did not want to tell him. The majority were upon the mysterious asteroid and were working to secure its ships and technology, as well as provide relief for anyone such as them.  
Again the question poked at her, Why were they doing this? They seemed to simply enjoy cruelty, perhaps that was enough for them.  
"They are on the asteroid." She told him, eyes cast down. "They'll be returning when they have established a forward base and need re-supplying."  
The Captain gave a deep and cruel laugh.  
"Perhaps we should make ourselves comfortable here then." He proposed, opening his arms wide as if to embrace the whole ship.  
A pulse of energy that seemed to come from nowhere shot him square in the chest and sent him flying back into the wall. He lay in a heap, his cape covering him like a death shroud.  
Kaass drew all her weapons and fired at the direction of the blast, the far back of the hangar where stacks of crates were sitting. Her scattered shots riddled the crates but seemed to hit very little, if anything at all.  
Vlash had made his way beck and Vu'atta saw his helm tilt towards the Captain, noticed his grip tighten on his weapon as he gave consideration to some secret plan. It was abandoned when Kaass slithered back to cover the Captain however. Vlash ran to the crates, a second pulse came and with uncanny agility he slid beneath it and changed direction to match the origin of the shot. The assailant could still not be seen but it did not seem to deter him.  
Vu'atta hoped the stealth field on the suits would be enough to champion Vlash, she had little time to watch though as Kaass' looming frame overshadowed her vision.  
"Desssciever!" She said as her gun pressed against Vu'atta's temple.  
"No, I didn't know I swear!" Panic swept over her as she backed against the wall, next to the Captain's body. Beads of sweat dripped down her face and her heart felt like it was about to bust as she stared into the cold eyes of the alien monster and saw no glint of mercy.  
Then the Captain moved, made a groan of pain and Kaass hesitated.  
"Captain?" She inquired, taking her eyes off Vu'atta to judge for herself whether his movement was not some trick of the light. He moved again, his hand twitched to life.  
Slinging her rifle but keeping one gun trained on Vu'atta Kaass picked up her Captain in her lower pair of arms. Her tongue flicked out to check his breathing and then she swiveled her head to face Vu'atta.  
"You are a healer."  
Vu'atta's heart sank. She could not be asked to help him now, not when he had caused the deaths of so many. Despite the gun still pointing at her face, how ruthless she knew Kaass and indeed the whole crew to be, she could not do this.  
"No." Even as her fear of Kaass spiked she managed to find the will to resist this abominable request. Kaass leered closer and opened her maw to display her massive fangs, as long as Vu'atta's fore arms. In the face of this she closed her eyes and tried to wait for death but could not help but whimper despite her resolve. It was too terrible a thing to think of how drawn out Kaass would make her death.  
"Kaaasss!" The Captain said wearily.  
Kaass recoiled to him at once but her gun still pressed against Vu'atta's head.  
"Captain!" Her voice was tinged with something that might be called relief, Vu'atta held her breath, if he slipped away she would surely follow him into death.  
After a long moment the Captain opened his eyes. They focused on Kaass then swiveled to look at Vu'atta.  
"Most interesting." He mused to himself, feeling the combat drugs in his mask automatically feed his body painkillers and stimulants to hasten the healing process. Kaass set him down and he stood, warily but he managed, gazing into her eyes like he was looking for something. Then his mind returned to the matters at hand.  
"Kaass, where is the sniper?"  
"They move unssseen Captain."  
He frowned and watched Vlash as he struck at air and then froze, no doubt his acute senses would be focused on finding his opponent. He struck out again and an audible strike of metal on metal echoed through the large chamber to his ears.  
He palmed a button on his glove and spoke but clearly not to his present company.  
"Yieggo, report."  
He heard her reply though the others did not.  
"Veils of light, folded, unfolded, they make such shapes as beast and bird."  
"How many?"  
"The red moons of Luthoiren sparkle during harvest."  
"Understood."  
He ended transmission and drew his pistol. "Six enemies, not counting the one Vlash is with, stay focused."  
Kaass tongued the air with increasing speed. Her rifle adjusting with each interval.  
Another clang of metal on metal came from across the hangar.  
The Captain wondered what they were waiting for until her remembered Vu'atta. They must prize her life. Seeing Kaass point her gun at her as soon as he was hit must have given them pause, he had no doubt she did exactly that. Kaass would take any excuse to kill her. With a fluid motion he grabbed Vu'atta and slid the bladed pommel of his pistol to her throat.  
"Speak what I say to them!"  
Vu'atta was not given a chance to reply before he began to make demands.  
"Hear me Tau!" He began, Vu'atta for her part began to translate, although hesitantly.  
"We seek to return to our ship, throw down your weapons and we'll leave peacefully once a vessel that can take us back arrives."  
She spoke the lies and hoped that her comrades would not believe her. She tried to convey to them that these were dangerous aliens and that they could not be trusted, though she did not dare openly tell them. Provoking them to further bloodshed could prove disastrous to the remaining crew. The silence that followed her veiled words was only broken up by the distant striking of Vlash's blade on his invisible opponent.  
Her eyes closed and the voice that replied to her brought a great feeling of guilt to her heart.  
"To the Alien leader, You have committed crimes of murder against citizens of the Tau Empire and you will be held accountable. The ship you seek we deny you and advise you and your crew to lay down your weapons."  
Vu'atta barely had enough time to contemplate what it would mean before the Captain pressed the blade a fraction more against her neck to urge her to translate for him.  
She did so and felt certain that they would be her last words.  
The Captain laughed a deep laugh of genuine humor, it chillingly echoed throughout the hangar. Before it abated he barked a command through his communicator.  
"Put on a show Stardancer."  
In a blinding flash of colour Yieggo appeared before them, her coat splayed out in all directions. She pointed her pistol at a space of empty air and it rang out in joyous laughter as super fine blades ripped into the stealth suited scout that had stood there.  
Vu'atta's eyes widened in disbelief. She knew some of the scout suits were among the most advanced in the Empire. I baffled her how their presence was betrayed, then it hit her. Her voice, she spoke to them and they answered. Some technology or perhaps even the acute nature of Aeldari senses was enough to give them away.  
It all happened in an instant and she cried out for them to not make any noise but it was too late. The death of the speaker and commander elicited startled cries from the others and in an elegant spin Yieggo downed them with all with such speed and accuracy Vu'atta would not believe it possible if she had not witnessed it.  
When Yieggo finished a hushed silence fell upon the hangar. Vlash was walking back to them, the decapitated head of another scout in his hand. He seemed absorbed by it.  
The captain let go of Vu'atta and began to clap enthusiastically.  
"400 cycles has not slowed you one bit my darling Yieggo." He spoke as though she had performed some trick, like an animal.  
Yieggo bowed low and pranced back to the group, waving sweetly at Vu'atta who only stared back gormless at the skill she's seen. When they were brought aboard she had thought them to be elegant and wise, like the others they had met but the longer she remained in their presence the more she believed they were monsters.

Hydraulics whirled and at the opposite end of the hangar a large door opened revealing a mighty battlesuit. It's eye lit up and the mighty pulse cannons upon its back locked into place aimed square at the group.  
"SCATTER!" bellowed the Captain and they obeyed with amazing speed. The blast left hefty dents in the floor and wall.  
Yieggo sprang left, Vlash and Kaass went right and for Vu'atta it went dark. She felt a body press on her and for a moment she thought the Captain was hit but when he tossed back his cape and got back up to one knee beginning to fire at the battlesuit with his pistol though it did little against its sturdy armour.  
"Get up!" He called down, pulling her up as he stood and hurried her across to the meager cover of the supply crates. Vu'atta's eyes found it difficult to leave the headless scouts body that Vlash had killed once she found it before she was pulled behind a crate while the battlesuit fired again, this time just missing Yieggo as she leaped into a roll to avoid the shot.  
The Captain twisted her hand to get her attention.  
"If you move, if you run, I will tear this ship apart to find you and when I am done, you will beg for death a thousand times."  
With that he stepped out to join the others to combat the battlesuit. Kaass was trying t get close but it's guns kept whirling to her direction and though she was mighty in body she could not expect herself to survive a direct blast. Her advantage was that whenever the suits pilot focused on her Yieggo, the Captain and Vlash dashed towards them and given the seemingly mandatory few seconds the suit needed between shots the crew quickly began to capitalize on the opportunity that offered.  
Yieggo reached the suit first and leaped onto the forarm, releasing the coiled wire from her wrist as it began to glow red hot. With a flick of her hand it began to swish about, scratching and scoring the battlesuit's armour as it thrashed seemingly at random but never touching Yieggo, the only betrayal that it was completely under her control. In a moment one of the battlesuits arms, sheared off by the wire, fell to the hangar floor.  
Kaass reached the battlesuit and began to coil about it with her massive body as Yieggo retracted the wire, now instantly cool to the touch, and step away to give her room to work.  
The battle suit creaked under the crushing power of her massive tail muscles, she gave a sharp hiss into the visor as muffled cries came from inside, the pilot being crushed by the pressure she encased them in. The pilot did what they could to thrash and remove Kaass but it was clear that the suit had limited mobility.  
Blood began to leak, mixing with the battlesuits operating fluids into a sickening mixture as they struck the floor, leaving mild alkaline burns.  
Before long the battlesuit was crushed and bent almost beyond recognition and the Captain finally reached the far end of the Hangar just behind Vlash who had notably slowed when Kaass had reached the battlesuit.  
"Impressive Kaass, what would we do without you?"  
Her eyes closed respectfully as she acknowledged the compliment and she bowed her head slightly. Her eyes shot to Vu'atta, even from this distance she seemed to know the woman's location. Vu'atta had not moved but seeing Kaass immediately lock eyes with her made her legs twitch, a primal instinct had been awakened and she knew that stripped of space fleets and weapons that she was prey to this predator. The lowest levels of her brain saw her own death and it made her skin grow cold, her breath caught in her throat, the mental tendrils of animal panic began to reach up her spine and try to touch her brain.  
*I have to run.* She thought.  
*They're going to kill me, no matter what I do they'll kill me. She'll kill me!*  
It didn't matter that she knew there was no escape on the ship, that they would find her if she tried to flee. Her will pulled against her higher brain funtions in an effort to arrest control from herself. To no longer be in their presence.  
The Captain took his time returning to her. The others followed behind.  
"I see you are still with us. I can only speak for myself but I see great potential in you."  
Her eyes widened and her fugue state broken by his proclamation.  
"Potential?"  
"Of course," he exclaimed, arms wide again the blast mark on his chest where he was shot displayed his scar, a burnt shape on his chest that seemed to be mostly healed already though she had no idea how.  
He went on.  
"You'll be joining us when we return to my ship. from there, who knows what treasures we'll find in this new Galaxy?"  
"But I..."  
"You're overcome with gratitude, I'm sure." He interrupted darkly. His body, though a short distance from her own seemed dangerously close and intimate just then. A threat to the self she could not ignore.  
Vu'atta believed she could not handle much more of this.

"Captain, a ship approaches." Yieggo alerted him and he gestured they follow him as he strode out to the center of the hangar to meet it. The craft was big and as it swung into view it carried behind it on cables a mass of golden crystals and blades.  
"BEHOLD!" The Captain proclaimed.  
"The Wanton Hand!"  
The ship that was pulled into the hangar by the Tau craft was just visible through the glowing crystal and even warped as it was in the refracted light it was a construct of malice to behold. Every angle designed to upset the eye and cut flow of vision, a mathematical mess of symmetry perfectly sculpted to look as unlike a ship as possible and more like a spiked sea creature.  
"Remember to be gracious now." He added drawing his chainsword.  
"They did save us the trouble of getting to the ship."  
Yieggo laughed out loud.  
The doors stayed closed as the crew of the Tau ship no doubt recognized trouble. From the coms of the vessel came a commanding voice Vu'atta recognised as Commander Le'Shia.  
"You have betrayed the trust of our compassion and shown yourselves to be enemies of the Empire and the Greater Good. You will not be allowed to leave. Pray to your Gods and prepare to be destroyed!"  
Vu'atta translated after some prompting by the Captain.  
"Oh. Is that right?" He chuckled, "I like this one. Let us hope he has better warriors on this vessel."  
The Captains query was shortly answered as the hatch blew off one of the side panels of the ship and in a roar of fire a bulky figure of dark armour soared into the air. Shots rang out from their mighty gun that struck Yieggo unawares and sent her flying back. The crew returned fire but the figure was shielded somehow and what shots were true of aim bounced harmlessly to the floor.  
The figure landed and wasted no time in spewing a jet of fire from the weapon in its other hand. Kaass intercepted the jet of flame and was engulfed.  
"NO!" cried the Captain as he rushed the figure with Vlash at his side but their enemy had already jet-jumped onto one of the walkways and was laying down suppressive fire.  
Vlash threw his glaive with desperate accuracy and successfully forced the assailant to retreat further, allowing himself and the Captain to make for cover behind the chunk of golden crystal that held their ship.  
Vu'atta stood amidst the fallen aliens and in a moment clear of thought she made for the hangar entrance. All she had to do was make it to the door and she could use the emergency seal to lock them inside.  
It did not take her a moment to realize that she was being pursued, Kaass, burnt black from the fire was screeching behind her throwing swears and curses in her native tongue and she had abandoned all her weapons and now used all four of her powerful arms to scuttle after her.  
The Captain fired from cover and ran to get better vantage on his opponent but the enemy was clever and was using the vast hangar to keep boosting away before they could catch them. Vlash unsheathed his blades from his forearms and began his own assault only to come under fire from another direction. The ships guns were sparking blue bolts of energy at him and quickly forced him to retreat back into cover.  
Kaass was about to catch Vu'atta when the Captain contacted her via coms.  
"Leave her, flank that target."  
"Captain..."  
"I need my right arms. KILL THEM!"  
Unable to deny the him Kaass abandoned the chase and began to take a long arc to reach the rear of their new assailant. Her advance was cut short by flying mechanical disc that shot at her, as it hovered about the enemy. Darting back and forth she was fortunate that it had relatively slow reaction times compared to her powerful and agile body.  
Vlash, frustrated at his new problem leaped into the air and charged, not the guns but the bulkhead doorway, now bereft of protection he took a glancing shot to the midsection as he reached the portal and found himself inside the ship. Immediately he became aware of the fear that surrounded him and the activation sounds of the enemies weaponry.  
"In Kaine's name, I bring violence!"  
As he began his bloody work, screams could be heard outside the ship and the guns stop operating.  
The Captain, no longer fearing the guns of the vessel stepped out to face his enemy.  
Pointing his sword at his opponnent he ran towards them as they in turn pointed their burst cannon at him and began to fire but was interrupted by the crushing sound of his drone being broken against the floor. Beside him the alien Kaass, large and terrible looking roused herself to her full height and tower over his relatively small armoured form.  
He swore in his language before her extended maw closed on his head and clamped down on his torso. Her knife like teeth punctured his armour and her great, powerful neck lifted him into the air as he flailed in protest. The jet fired but her four arms, gripped the floor and she but moved a little way before it became clear that prey was not going to escape.  
With a sickening crunch she broke the enemy in two and spat them out in a slimy heap.  
"My thanks Kaass, again I honour you."  
This time she bowed low, despite her wounds and lay prostrate on the floor.  
"The captive has flown Captain, I offer no excussse."  
He knelt with a grunt of pain. One of the shots from the burst cannon had struck him and he was weaker than he let on but that could wait.  
"There is no need for forgiveness, I ordered you to let her go."  
"If we do not make hassste then more will come."  
He smiled behind his mask and stood.  
"Come, Vlash may need assistance."

Vlash slashed at one of the Tau warriors and the purple blood splattered his armour. It drank deep of alien death that day already but he knew from experience it could not be sated, not fully.  
One tried to stab him with a knife and it was almost impressive how they approached him but it was so clumsy he could not merit to actually praise it even in his mind. Pinning the warriors arm under his own he sent the blades of his other hand through their visor and let their corpse hang their for an instant.  
With each swing of his arms and motion of his body he dealt death to the Tau crew. One blast from a pulse rifle glanced off his shoulder and another used the butt of their weapon to strike him in the back of the head. It was as if they were frightened children now, unable to be worthy of the term warrior.  
This slaughter brought him no happiness. The unseen one outside was a much more pleasurable fight. Yet his rigorous training could not allow him to let up and for each minor touch that reached him he retaliated with one hundred percent of his prowess. Before long he had stopped counting and was in a battle trance, shifting his conscious self to an inner voice to preserve his energies. Letting his well trained body go on hundreds of years of ingrained muscle memory and honed fighting instinct.  
His mind only halted his body when he had dispatched the last of the warriors and stood before the ships piloting crew.  
They had no weapons and simply sat in their chairs, unable to move for fear of him. He waited there for the Captain.

Outside Vu'atta was breathing hard, collecting herself after sealing the door. She'd made it but she now had to stay safe, get away until she could find safety.  
As she turned to head down the hallway a shadow moved and her heart leapt into her throat.  
"The Captain told you to stay little water droplet." Yieggo's voice sang from the shadows.  
"If you insist on running away then the Captain is going to have to let you get away."  
"How? I saw you get shot." Vu'atta stated in disbelief.  
"You saw what I showed you!" Yieggo's voice seemed to come from all around her.  
Was that true, was it possible that they tricked her, then why would they do that?  
"Why show me that? Why make me think you are dead?"  
A high pitched laugh filled the hallway.  
"Because it's fun, my little moonflower."  
Madness, they were all mad. Vu'atta resolved to flee and began to run but Yieggo appeared as if from nowhere in front of her, a brightness erupting from the dark.  
"If you want to escape then you'll have to kill me." She declared cheerfully.  
Vu'atta had never received any combat training, that was not for her caste.  
"I can't fight!"  
"You say "cannot" more than other species in the galaxy, did you know that?"  
Yieggo's body ducked low and with a fluid motion she struck the legs out from under Vu'atta with a sweeping strike. Vu'atta plunged onto the floor and stuck her back upon it.  
"If you won't kill, then why do you want to live?" Yieggo asked her bent over and tilting her masked face quizzically.  
"I, I want to live."  
"Why? You will not kill to live, you will not sacrifice."  
"I... I don't know, I just want to. Please."  
"You plead too much as well!" Yieggo declared as she sent her boot heel to connect with Vu'atta's face, a strike she only narrowly avoided by rolling away.  
Vu'atta's mind raced, Yieggo could have killed her if that was what she really wanted, she'd seen the alien in action and was confident she posed no real threat to her.  
"I won't fight you. If I do then you'll kill me."  
"If you don't I'll kill you!" Yieggo retorted and sent another kick into Vu'atta's side, earning her a cry of pain from her and causing her to roll over onto her side to protect herself.  
"Believe it or not. I don't hate you." Yieggo added as she followed the kick with more of the same.  
Vu'atta cried out with each blow that landed and did her best to cover her vital organs and face but the kept coming. She knew they were strong and fast, many times beyond anything her own people could normally achieve but she was alive where others were not. Why? Yieggo was toying with her, wasn't she? Didn't she want her to die?  
What if she didn't?  
"Why are you doing this to me?" She blurted out between punts.  
Yieggo stopped her assault and got down on her knees, swiped a strand of Vu'atta's hair from her face gently, almost matronly, and declared.  
"Because I like you!"  
Then gripped Vu'atta by the temples and began to squeeze hard. The pressure felt like it was going to crack her skull. Vu'atta thrashed in defiance, she reached for Yieggo's mask in a moment of blind instinct and yanked it down, revealing the sharp features of her face, she was crying bitter tears, her face contorted in pained conflict. She let go of Vu'atta as her face changed from pained to surprised in an instant and she scrambled to refit her mask.  
"My performance. You ruined it." Rage crept into Yieggo's voice, accented by grief.  
Vu'atta stood up, gasping, her heart racing. She wouldn't get another chance like this again. She had to act, to strike somehow. With all her strength she swung her leg out and kicked Yieggo in the side of the head. The Aeldari struck the ground and groaned, Vu'atta thought about running but she knew they'd catch her, she had to deal with them now however she could. While Yieggo reeled from the blow and her personal crisis Vu'atta unhooked an access panel from the wall and swung it hard, crashing it against Yieggo's side. She could not believe that she was actually landing blows on this one, she was so gracefully dodging pulse rounds earlier and now she seemed a gibbering wreck of a person.  
She struck her again and again, intent on making it so she could get away this time. At least that was how it began, her blood rushed in her ears as she struck Yieggo more and more, panting with the exertion of swinging the panel coupled with the mental fatigue of the last few hours.  
The clanging, battering sound filled the hallway and blood stained the panel as it bent with each strike. At last Vu'atta realized that she was screaming, her voice a stretched cry of fury from her strained voice box. It hurt but at that moment everything hurt.  
Her arms hurt from swinging, her legs from running, her heart from grief. That pain poured itself into her and she released it upon Yieggo who lay in the ground moaning in pain as she weakly tried to stand.  
Vu'atta collapsed, she was spent. Her breath was so heavy it felt like sharp blades in her throat and lungs.  
"That..." Yieggo was trying to speak. "That washn't so hardt now wash it? Heh heh hah hAH HAHAHAHA!"  
The exhaustion mixed with the sudden realization of what had transpired made Vu'atta vomit. They had her now, she had exposed a part of herself that was not in keeping with her caste. She was a healer and she had beaten this one nearly to death. It did not matter that she was provoked, it only mattered that she had stirred within her a desire to kill. Only Warriors were meant to kill. How could she be a healer now?  
Staring at her own sick she breathed in the smell if it unwillingly, trying to turn herself away, escape not the aliens but what she had done. Her life that day was a nightmare, monsters, death and now this. She betrayed her calling and now was the lowest of the low.  
She opened the doorway to the Hangar in a daze. What could she do now? She still wanted to live but the greater good was lost to her forever. Her steps were short and staggered and behind her Yieggo's laughter rang out like a distant siren, mocking her.  
When she raised her head she saw the Captain his eyes held not judgement but pride. He knew, somehow he knew from the first moment that she was capable of this. By what means was it done, this insight into parts of herself she did not know existed?  
Next to him Kaass nursed her blackened scales and in the doorway of the ship Vlash sat, helmet removed, delicately peeling the skin from the skull of another of his victims.  
Was this all that awaited her, death and violence?  
The Captain went to her, lay a hand on her shoulder and spoke.  
"Welcome Home!"


	3. Cabin Fevers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the Ship is back in the Captains hands, the crew get some downtime.

It took shorter time than The Captain thought to free the Hand from the crystal structure. A fact that pleased him as he stepped forth into it, eager to get away with his new captives, the pilots, and the latest hopeful for his crew.  
Vu'atta was almost catatonic as he led her through into the unused domicile room that he decided would be hers. It still held many of the trappings of Tri'annarath. Somewhat fitting since he remembered the manner in which he abandoned the Haemonculi after they made a vague threat on his life which he could not ignore. Vlash he tolerated because even his warped code of honour would not permit him to challenge unless he was at his prime, Tri'annarth had no such compulsions about poisoning or attack while he slept. It would not do. The Captain enjoyed watching Vu'atta look at the various tools and decorations even though she was not reacting at the moment he knew she would crack again and fill the ship with delicious screams soon enough. A delightful thought but not as enticing as the possibility of her silence.  
How he hoped for her silence.

Upon leaving her there and insuring that the rest of his crew were in their place the Captain made his weary way to his own quarters where he hoped to rest and more importantly to remember.  
As the door retracted into the wall like a folding fan of blades he stepped forth and the dim glow orbs flickered to life, glowing brighter and then settling to a lower intensity. His dark eyes scanned the room darting across objects and trophies. He picked up a ceremonial knife an twirled it in his hands as he judged the weight. The small banner that hung above it depicted a similar blade in relief on a field of silver. He held it up and tried to slot the blade into the banner's depiction. It almost worked, there were slight imperfections he detected in the sharpness of the blade but in general it was the same weapon.   
He replaced it and moved on to an ornate looking helmet. It had decorations of dozens of tiny screaming faces etched into the surface. The detail was exceptional as he could make out that each tiny face was unique in its particular twisted visage of horror. Moving on he found an almost complete skeleton propped up on a series of incredibly fine wires that made it look like it was some ghoulish creature standing on its own. He did not know the name of it but it had four arms and a large extended skull.   
He felt nothing. No new memories stirred in him from any of these things he kept close to him. How, why was it he could remember his crew but not himself? He knew they would not tolerate this in him. He would be killed and worse if Vlash's suspicious nature lead him to the truth. Something happened to him, something that did not happen to the others. He was separated from them and those blasted Tau did something to his mind, some drug, some tool robbed him of his self identity.  
He thought back to Vu'atta, she must know, even if she did not realize it she had the information in that head of hers. His fist struck the desk before him and he swore he'd pry the answers from her if it killed her. Despite his curiosity and her recent promising attitude he needed his mind returned to him. Mostly to find out what he was doing that got him and his ship trapped in the crystal and why the warp asteroid had manifested around them. He did not even remember how he came into possession of the Hand. His own home felt almost alien to him.  
A console decorated with another skeleton, this one much more like his own peoples, began to blink. He went to it and trusting his muscle memory instead of any conscious knowledge of how to access it he keyed in the access command.  
It was a star chart. The immediate area and last known location of the warp asteroid was shown. He stroked a glowing icon on the screen next to the asteroid and it opened a file on something called The Eye of Yciss. He scanned the limited information the console had on the object. It was an artifact of his people from before the Great Illumination said to have the power to grant ones hearts desire.  
*How convenient.* He thought suspiciously.  
If he was to gain possession of such an artifact he may regain what he had lost, including why he seemed so interested in it in the first place. Conceivably an answer to his many questions lay within his grasp. He wondered how much the crew knew about it. They probably knew they were looking for something before the asteroid swallowed them, possibly even the name but what concerned him was Yieggo, her kind knew much and betrayed little. She may have guessed at it's ability or even studied it in her past.   
Whom could he trust?  
No one.  
Hearing a shuffling outside his room he blanked the screen and turned to address his intruder as the door folded open revealing Kaass's massive frame. She could move but much of her was elongated to allow her ease of motion, it meant that she could not tower above the others as much and relied more on her lower hands for movement.  
"Captain." She spoke in a low respectful tone.  
"What does my right arms want?" He was annoyed with her intrusion and felt no reason not to show it. Her eyes cast down for a brief moment before returning to him, she understood his tone.  
"The prisssoners are detained, the ssship isss ready. We await your command to leave."  
It was time to keep up his farce of knowing exactly what he was doing.  
"We're going back to the Warp Asteroid, our work is not finished there."  
Kaass was silent for a moment that threatened to stretch on to infinity.  
"But Captain, we only jussst essscaped from there."  
"Empty handed." He retorted "And I will not abide such a slur upon my record."  
"But the enemy..."  
"The enemy is weak, we have seen this and as such we have nothing to fear."  
"Forgive me Captain, I ssspoke of the enemy upon the Asssteroid."  
His mind ground to a halt. There was no memory of this enemy on the asteroid. He must artfully construct his lies.  
"That was 400 Solar Cycles ago. They are no doubt long gone by now." He bluffed, frustration adding volume to his speech.  
Kaass slinked down low in contrition and squirmed closer.  
"Captain, forgive me."  
His breath was getting heavy and as Kaass got closer to him he noticed she was without weapons, though to say she was unarmed would be incorrect, her body was weapon enough. Something crept into his mind, a memory of a feeling. Intimacy with Kaass that surpassed the rest of the crew. A loyalty known to none other. Means to control.  
"There is nothing to forgive." He said almost dismissively, airing on the side of caution rather than outright affection. "You think only of my safety, as I know, and you have my gratitude."  
She slinked up close and darted her tongue out to taste the air about him.   
"It hasss been long sscycles sssinssce you have resssted, Captain."  
He took off his mask, unhooked it from his suit and lay it on the console behind him.   
"Yes Kaass. I am tired and I need rest. We all do."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once he woke he was immediately aware of the familiarity with which Kaass massive scaly body draped over both him and his cradle. His back was warmer than he felt was comfortable, he suspected Kaass had adjusted the dial when he was asleep. It brought no peace to him to imagine that she would rather simply be comfortable with him than kill him. Though he could not remember any event in which she was his enemy, it was easier to think of her as one at least hypothetically.  
Perhaps the person he was felt like that about everyone, even during their intimate moments. Her ribs moved to fill her mighty lungs and she exhaled into his face making his hair vibrate in its passing. She was completely helpless and with that realization he knew that a quick palming of the hidden panel just behind his head would reveal a blade. He could kill her now and he did not believe he would feel badly about it.  
But that was not convenient or profitable.   
Was this who he was?  
Is this the person he wanted to remember?  
Despite being so close to Kaass it was hard not to feel alone from himself. It was not any effort at all to loose himself from her head and arms to get up and feel the cool repurposed air on his skin. His sweat dried and he began to realize that maybe some part of him did know that he had been frozen in time for an age. As he returned to the console and turned it on the deep red of the screen bathed the room in stark light. Kaass rolled over to hide from it without waking.  
Again he was struck by the vulnerability of her. Vlash would never let such an opportunity pass him and Yieggo would kill simply to punctuate the act. No, only Kaass would allow such trust and even though he could not be sure of his past understanding of it , for now at least he allowed himself to turn his back to her and give his full attention to the console without any fear of her.  
The Eye of Yciss.  
He began to read the records of it, what little there was at least. Tales differed on what it was and looked like but one thing was consistent, that it granted one's deepest desires. The tales often wrote this as cautionary tales concerning warlocks who sought ultimate knowledge only to have it melt their minds or ambitious lords who craved power and found themselves transformed into monsters. He wondered what he wanted it for that it might prove to be worth such risks. He must have had a specific desire that he felt could only be granted by this and yet have been certain of his ability to shape his desire so that The Eye produced the desired effect.  
What could it have been?  
Power? Nothing so bland, it was always tempting but from his crew and what little he remembered he felt that was not it in itself.  
Perhaps, the means to power? Perhaps, it was likely that if one desired an army or a fleet then that might be within the ability of The Eye but it too came with risk. Ambitious commanders and captains that hunger to ascend. No, he had control as it was and did not feel like he would so easily risk it.  
What else?  
Wealth and fame? The dark marbles of his eyes slowly panned the room. He saw much pride in his belongings and tales of many deeds yet they were relatively modest.  
It might be that certain parties are actively looking for him and want him dead but until they presented themselves it merited little thought even now. No, he was living a small but satisfying existence at the moment. That was his instinct and so removed the possibility of fame and wealth from the options.  
Someone dead or even alive again?  
An interesting thought but since he could not remember any specifics he dismissed it quickly.  
He found himself staring at the skeleton in his room, hanging as if about to pounce, and a thought struck him with such intensity that he felt his pulse quicken. Perhaps The Eye was not for him, if he was commissioned to retrieve it.  
Then who?  
He turned his attention back to the console and began to search his records for any mission statement or transmission.  
He had taken many jobs like it in the past. Collecting people and objects for collectors of all walks of life and from many species. He cued up the latest transmission received to his console and with a last suspicious look at Kaass to make sure she was still sleeping he played it.  
A scrambled image of a figure appeared that he did not know. They were Aeldari though or something similar enough to pass as one. His senses would be able to tell if he was in their presence but so much was lost watching this primitive recording.  
They wanted The Eye and were prepared to pay handsomely for it.   
He could not believe it. This stupid fool left him trapped for 400 Cycles on that damned asteroid and probably sent another team to collect while he left them there.   
A hundred times a thousand oaths of blood were not enough to slake his anger at his circumstances.  
Still, there was The Eye and as of now he was confident that with the emergence of the asteroid again more would come looking for it, if the Warlock had not already taken his prize. The Tau did not seem aware of its existence, let alone what it might be able to offer them.  
He smiled to himself at the thought that they might destroy themselves. It would be fitting enough for those who dare try to keep him and what was his in their clutches.  
Thoughts turned to Vu'atta. He hoped she was not sleeping too soundly. The decorations of her room were many jars and tubes containing, among other things, a rather extensive selection of alien brain samples. He wondered if the scientist in her would override the compassion's of her field.   
Such answers could wait for tomorrow. He went to the wall and tapped it, taking a long look at the warp asteroid. It dared him to enter again, seek The Eye and claim it for his own, regain what was lost to him.  
He noted the passing of another small vessel, a Tau scout ship that they had either repaired or one already away when they set about at sabotaging them. It passed the Hand without a hint of recognition. His cloaking array was still working perfectly. Invisible to even their impressive technology. The difference between their cloaks and his was theirs only bent light. His craft was fitted with the ability to bend reality around it, similarly to how Vlash's armour could help him phase through an enemies attack. The principles were the same. To be and not be at the same time.  
So there they waited, clinging to the side of the Tau cruiser. Unseen and yet so close.

In her new quarters Vu'atta somehow found sleep despite the horrifying surroundings. Her sleep was deep and dreamless as always and when she woke she felt the cold of the cradle and the ship in general to be alarming. Sitting up she found she had slept in her work clothes, they were so worn from only a single day that they looked ancient now, comprising more unpleasant memories for her than she had ever accumulated before.   
She'd seen so many people she knew die in front of her, J'annith who never failed to remind her when she was working too hard and Yu'ev, the one who helped her settle into life on the ship. Dead now.  
It was different from when she would hear about the death of a Warrior or even when one would die despite her efforts. There was a distance between the danger and her. Even when warriors stared at her and pleaded for life with their gaze she felt that vastness between experiences. Seeing death amidst her as she had and how quick and merciless it was had shattered those mental barriers. She was in the danger now just as those Warriors were and like them she wanted to live more than anything.   
She closed her eyes, this ship was much darker than the cruiser and for the moment she was thankful. She needed to think.  
It was her teaching that all problems had a solution and with a clear mind one may find it. Her problem was staying alive. The way to do that was not give any of this alien crew an excuse to kill her. How best to do that, well that was the part that eluded her.  
Inaction was not enough, she needed to do something, actively take steps to protect herself. It had worked when she proved herself useful to the Captain and again, though admittedly more abstractly when she had attacked Yieggo. Maybe if she gave them all a beating...? No that was absurd.   
Still she had skills, her medical training was validated throughout the Empire comprising the knowledge of many aliens, including Aeldari. So that was something.   
Kaass's people she knew nothing of, she had never even heard such a people existed.   
Her eyes opened. If she was to be this ships medic, then she would need the tools of her craft. Her quarters were much too dark to see so she stood to try and take in more of her surroundings. The best light sources came from illuminated cylinders with some kind of biomass in them. Stepping closer she saw that they were samples held in preserving fluid. Unlike the ordered and reclusive ways in which sh was used to them being stored these were openly on display. Trying to get a better look at the container she reached out to the biggest jar, letting her fingers splay over the smooth, clear cylinder.   
The matter inside jumped to life, extending several tentacles and trying to grab her. Vu'atta recoiled from the beast and yelped in surprise.   
Was everything in here trying to kill her?   
She needed more light, there did not seem to be any obvious mechanism to activate it, perhaps it worked via voice activation.  
"Illuminate?" She spoke in the Aeldari tongue and the room filled with light, deep purple and betraying harsh truths about her surroundings.   
Many chains hung from the walls. The surfaces were covered in all manner of implements that could only loosely be deemed medical. Blades and needles of all shapes ad sizes arranged in intricate, almost pathological patterns. There was a datascreen on the far wall adorned with the skin of some furred beast. It looked so garish to her.   
Who in the great unknown used to own this room?  
She lifted one of the implements and examined it. A blade that seemed more for shredding than cutting. Remembering the confrontation with Yieggo she felt a bit safer keeping this on her person. It was in staring at the blade she found herself leaning back against the wall and activating a panel. The wall parted and displayed a series of dark hangings with chains and bits of treated pelt, no. It was skin, flayed skin.   
It was horrible. She struck the panel again and the wall closed as she hugged the knife to her chest protectively.   
There was other things in that closet but her mind fixated on the many shades of alien dermis. She opened the door in the wall and did her best to ignore the once living tissue. Thankfully she could taste the antiseptic in the air as she approached and managed to take some of the more sensible pieces of fabric away. Then she closed the door again and hoped to never have need to open it again.  
Most of the pieces had pouches for tools. That seemed oddly practical when faced with her current situation. A closer inspection told her she would have a hard time fitting into any of these. The fittings did not even match typical Aeldari physiology. This creature had multiple limbs and seemingly no legs.   
This would not suit her, literally.  
Fortunately she had at least some means to correct most if not all disfunctions in these clothes. After all it couldn't be much more difficult than cutting into patients.


	4. Gifts of despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yieggo grabs one of the captives and pays Vlash a visit.

Yieggo led the Tau prisoner by a short chain from the holding cells to Vlash's chambers. The Knight was in deep meditation so she did not mind to let herself in. He was on the floor, surrounded by candles made from the fat of some of his most difficult adversaries. Through the slow absorption of their essence as they burned he gained deeper insight into their methods, or at least that was the was it was supposed to work. It could simply be tradition.   
Vlash was always in great favor of tradition.  
His room was decorated with weapons and trophies of all kinds but mostly helmets or bits of armour. She wondered if she'd ever adorn his wall like them. It was certainly prestigious company. Upon these walls in this room was all of Vlash's life open to read for any with the eyes to see it and the wit to put it together. From the belt taken from his first kill to the damaged helmet from his duel with the Captain.   
If you had any questions about the Incubi, they were already answered.

"Can you sing?" She asked the prisoner as she took a seat back on the seat next to the console.  
"I... don't know." He stammered.   
Yieggo leaned closer as if to inspect the Tau, it made him clearly nervous, even without her mask she was able to twist her smile into all manner of frightening shapes.  
"You can sing can't you Vlash?" She said, switching to Aeldari as easily as one might pour water from one pitcher to another, "Dazzle me won't you?"  
A low hum came from Vlash, he undulated powerful tones from the depths of his bodies core and the acoustics of the room made his notes resonate with the Tau's very bones, or at least it felt like that.  
Yieggo closed her eyes and added her own trilling melody to the sound. Her voice pitching higher and higher. The Prisoner felt his head begin to hurt. Something about the noise it was like a fine, long thread was being pulled through his brain.  
"Stop, please." He begged as his eyes blinked to banish the discomfort.  
Yieggo's smile widened.  
"But you didn't want to sing. Someone has to."  
The Prisoner was clearly afraid, Vlash's increased heart rate proved it. Normally such a thing would be undetectable even to her senses but he was healing from the escape so his focus was not yet perfectly attuned. The singing exercise helped him in two ways. The first was mental, it focused his mind on multiple tasks without letting any of them become lessened and the pain of the Prisoner he could syphon off and use to help mend his body.  
The energy shot from the ships cannon should have killed him but the armour and combat drugs kept him going and now he worked to repair himself.  
Yieggo was helping.  
"So..." She crossed her arms and legs in attention as the Prisoner's mind fumbled to shake the fog of pain.   
"I'll sing. I will, please."  
"Wondrous."

The Prisoner's name was Shai'tam and he had not known many songs. There were chants and such but most involved military regime. He did know one however from his homeworld. A song of it's natural beauty.  
As he sang it he watched his captor and began to realize that he would never see his home again. The great seas of green and mountains of marble. Nor would he see his beloved Gia'rai, who had recently borne two sons he had sworn with each message home to love and cherish a lifetimes worth to make up for his time in the Imperial Navy.   
These aliens had made a liar of him, a widow of his beloved and orphans of his children and they had done it while he was still alive and powerless to stop them.  
His despair streamed down his face from his eyes and Yieggo reached out to wipe one away with her thumb then tasted it. Savouring the very essence of his sorrow.  
It was so deliscious she had to close her eyes and become enraptured by it. He missed them so much she could feel it. She could almost see their faces through his minds eye. His memories of them sand in her mouth like an exotic spice.  
It was riveting.  
"Oh, poor little thing." She cooed as she stood and wrapped her slender arms about the weeping alien.   
"You're right of course." She said to him, rocking his quivering frame back and forth gently as if to soothe his terrors. She waited until he had begun to quiet, maybe even let an ember of hope into his heart before she completed her thought.  
"You're never going to see them again!"   
A fresh wave of despair overwhelmed Shai'tam and his sobbing began anew.

"Gratitude to you Performer." Vlash spoke in such formalities it threatened to become a language all its own.   
For her part Yieggo bowed. The Prisoner had been returned and she was doubly glad to find her grasp of their language was coming along so strongly. She only had a few hours to speak to the medical officer who had awoken her but she was confident that she had crested the hill on it.  
Many trips to the cells would be in order for full mastery however.   
"I wanted to ask you something Vlash." She chimed.  
His sharp eyebrow raised itself and she knew she had his attention.   
"Do you believe that the past 400 Cycles has effect the Captain somehow?"  
Vlash stood and moved to the wall where a pair of ornate swords hung, he took them off and began to run drills.  
"All is effect."  
She was going to have to get creative, she did not mind that.  
"Keen blades slice most effectively."  
"Precision is all."  
"The grub becomes the Fetternet without knowing why."  
Vlash paused in his motions and his eyes met with Yieggo's.  
"Treachery is life."  
Yieggo smiled.  
"Life is death."  
Vlash began his drills again. He was quiet for a long while as his mind revolved around the possibilities. Ways to strike, moments of effect. How best to take what will not be yielded willingly. He knelt in the middle of the floor again, laying the swords across his palms and arms.  
He closed his eyes and dreamed of death.  
"The Stars have changed." He stated rather bluntly.  
Yieggo's eyes flashed with rebellious delight.  
"A strong hand guides the sail."  
"And a wise mind guides the hand."  
Yieggo's smile faded a fraction, Vlash did not open his eyes but he sensed it.  
"Not even a Kallach spends all its days in the silt."  
"When the Kallach moves it is not because the Tyavor calls."  
She pulled a long, thin sword formed of wraithbone from the wall and Vlash was up in an instant blades in hand and on his feet in an explosive hop.  
Their blades clashed a dozen times before Vlash faked an opening and Yieggo retreated, not falling for it. She tossed down her weapon when Vlash did not persue.  
"Am I not worthy of your best Death Dealer?"  
Vlash cast his eyes down at the sword Yieggo had dropped. He remembered that being one of the most intense fights of his long and violent life.   
It began and ended in a heartbeat. His ears barely registered the psychic scream of the enemy before her blood stained his weapon. It was a harsh lesson he had learned that day. This warrior who was unmatched in all the galaxy met their end at his hand and most who were there missed it because they blinked.  
Her skill took centuries to hone and a fraction of a moment to wipe from existence.  
"You would perform your last act without a suitable audience?"  
Yieggo's eyes softened and she smiled again. Flipping from one emotion to the other as quickly as one would turn a page.  
"I knew you cared." Her heart was glad and with care she lifted the wraithbone sword and replaced it on the wall.  
"I'll rehearse my role for the final show and strive to be worthy of your skill."  
Vlash nodded.  
"And I shall make it a spectacle to behold."  
Yieggo bowed, still smiling, and left.  
When left alone again Vlash blew out his candles, put his swords away and lay on his cradle.  
The Captain was weakened somehow, weakness could not be accepted. It was part of why he did not wish Yieggo to die just yet. When he moved on the Captain, he would need her to act as well. It was true that her passing fancy may be to work against him but that was a calculated risk. Kaass would protect the Captain with her life and though he felt he could take either of them, both would present unnecessary risk.  
His body tensed as he prepared himself for rest. The deep sleep of his kind left him vulnerable and as always the crushed bones of his cheek began to tingle in painful sense memory. He had elected to not have the damage undone by surgery. Most assumed it was a reminder of his defeat or a battle scar to be worn proudly but to Vlash it was a promise, a debt owed and yet to be repaid with compounded interest.  
He dreamed of death.


	5. Core troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With new information Captain Maaralk decides to complete his 400 cycle old mission.

The Captain had learned his name from the records on his console.  
Maaralk.  
He hoped it would reveal himself to him. That it would give him back what he was missing but it was just a name, as unhelpful as the term Captain. He was angered and frustrated by this to the point of pacing in his quarters.  
That was not all, he had a few more bits of information about himself but they were as information about a stranger and nothing sparked more recollection within himself.   
Kaass had awoken and left some time ago without a word.  
It was not something that felt strange to him and since it was all he had to go on he assumed that this was the norm.  
Now left alone with his thoughts he bid time to learn before making his next move.  
Getting to the warp asteroid was paramount in all his plans, it was the first step to getting anywhere and if the Eye of Yciss was still there then he would claim it. Whether the client survived the last 400 Cycles or not. Someone would want it when he was done with it and it was worth a great deal, perhaps even some level of amnesty if it was gifted to a great house, craftworld or even exarch clan.  
The gains outweighed the risks by a wide margin.  
A series of clanking, drumming sounds echoed throughout the ship and the slight vibrations let him know that the gravity couplings were detaching and the ship was preparing to leave.  
Yieggo must have grown tired of waiting.  
He donned his gear and made his way to the bridge of the ship. Yieggo was already strapped in and making the adjustments to the flight system.  
"Set course for the Asteroid," He commanded with utter authority. "We are going back in there and not coming out until we have the Eye."  
Yieggo trilled a laugh and eagerly input the coordinates.  
Vlash entered and then Kaass, her seat at the weapons platform had a series of retractable rods in the floor that erected to allow her to wrap her tail around and give her purchase. Vlash sat at the observation and communications deck. Linking the computer to his mind via a jack in the side of his neck, just under his ear.  
The ship lurched and they all rocked, watching the stars shift through the rounded view window. The Asteroid came into frame and they began their trip, navigating from the large Tau Carrier past the smaller, lighter Tau spacecraft.  
In her room Vu'atta was laying in the cradle, holding on and trying not to spill out. Artificial gravity did its work but sudden movements still rocked the contents of the ship. Her eyes rarely left the squirming thing in the jar as it was beginning to get excited. Every time its tiny body bumped against the container she feared it would break and then it would come for her.   
They must be moving. This was it, there was really no going back now. She was trapped and there was nothing she could do.  
She thought about her home and tried to wrestle with the terrible facts of her situation while the ships motions tried to wrestle her from the bed.

"Bring us closer to that crater." Maaralk ordered, pointing to the spot he meant on his seats console it appeared on Yieggo's as well to allow her to navigate.  
The Wanton Hand sailed silent and invisible though the darkness past Tau Scouts and smaller shuttles, many of which were no doubt looking for them, and into the darkness of the crater. He palmed a red jewel on his screen and the viewing window tinted red to allow them to see in the lower spectrum of light. He stood and approached the window, scanning the details of the asteroids interior as they were scanned.  
"Energy readings?"  
"The core of the asteroid is too dense for our scanners Captain." Vlash conveyed "The Tau ships are converging on the far side of the Asteroid."  
"Leave them to their fumbling. I want to get the Eye and leave this cursed place. Life signs?"  
Vlash's eyebrows furrowed.  
"Some Captain, Scavengers mostly, a large force located where we were initially trapped."  
"Launch probe. I want a look at them."  
A circle on the view window opened up into a screen in which the probes vision could be seen. It propelled itself like a darting fish through the weightless emptiness, still seeing through red light.  
It traveled into a crashed Mon'keigh freighter and came across a series of strange shapes moving. The various bodies clanked about with stern motions as they tore chunks of metal off the side of the ship and began to pile it high in the hallway. The probe saw 5 of these beings, some had weapons that glowed a deep green while others had weapons for limbs and one even had three arms. They did not notice the probe until a scuttling shape came scurrying out of a hole in an adjacent wall and began to shriek loudly. It too was mechanical and it was not alone. A horde of these things descended on the probe and the feed stopped.  
Frustrated, Maaralk returned to his chair and began to think.  
"How many of them?"  
"Thousands Captain."  
"Can we circumvent the Mon'keigh vessel?"  
"Not without abandoning the core."   
"Keep us on course deeper into the asteroid and keep scanning." He said it to keep them busy but if he was going to find the Eye he needed them to be doing their jobs.  
He cursed those mechanical monsters to himself as he tried to think about avoiding them.  
There must be a way. As soon as he saw them he knew what they were. Machines left from an ancient people known as the Necrontyr. He did not expect them to be here still after 400 cycles. Avoiding Kaass knowing gaze he made his decision.  
"Ready the Lance batteries."  
They all looked at him.  
"Is there a problem?" He asked.  
"Captain?" Kaass began.  
"We'll cut through the Mon'keigh ship and cloak ourselves once we're on the other side." He knew the risks, cloaking left the shields off and they would be vulnerable to attack but the Hand was fast and he felt confident that they could outrun whatever these machines followed with.  
"Make ready."  
"Lansscesss charged and ready Captain."  
He waited until they were almost too close to avoid serious damage before giving the order.  
"Drop cloak, FIRE!"  
The fluctuation in power left the lights off for a moment but they soared onward into the broken hull of the ship. A large piece of hull scraped against the window, leaving a foreboding mark.  
"Maintain speed."   
The Lances had blasted deep into the ship, boring a hole for them to slip into neatly.  
"How far until we reach the other side?"  
"Captain, there's still obstacles."  
"What?"  
"The Lances did not peirce the entire ship, we will only get halfway through before we hit something."  
"Status Kaass."  
"Lansscess charging, ssseventyeight percent Captain."  
"How soon until we crash?"  
"18 beats."  
"I want those lances charged."  
"eighty persscent."  
"Vlash?"  
"14 beats Captain."  
Yieggo began to laugh.  
"Fire at 90% power."  
"But Captain. the power coresss..."  
"That is an order Kaass."  
"9 seconds, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,"  
"FIRE!"  
The ship rocked dangerously as the violent surge of energy and turbulence as the shrapnel from the lances blast impacted the ship. Visibility was gone for a few menacing heartbeats as they each waited for them to either clear the rest of the ship or become impaled on a jutting piece of the ships interior.  
It was with visible relief that they finally emerged from the smoke and ruin of the massive space craft. Each one let their muscles relax in turn.  
"Status report."  
"Navigation is clear, no more significant obstacles Captain." Yieggo said.  
"The lansscesss are ussselesss Captain, the lassst blassst dessstroyed the energy banksss. They are leaking energy from the abysss generatorsss."  
"Can they be repaired?"  
Kaass examined her console then shook her head.  
"No, they will need to be replassced."  
"Captain, we have another issue." Vlash interrupted with.  
"Speak."  
"The drones, they're following us."  
"How many?"  
"Hundreds."  
"On Screen!"  
The view window opened another circular screen that showed a miriad swarm of the mechanical insects following after the ship like a malevolent cloud.  
"Can we cloak?"  
"The energy leak from the lances will lead them to us, our cloak is uselss."  
"Secondary weapons."  
"Bringing sssplinter canonsss online now Captain."  
"Fire at will."  
The screen showed the rapid fire from the dual linked splinter cannons on the ships underside begin to chip away at the encroaching swarm of flying metal creatures. Many of the drones struck seemed to stop working and began to float off in the weak gravity of the asteroid but the swarm was so vast there was always more to take their place.  
"They're gaining on us." Vlash warned.  
"Increase speed. I want don't want them following us to the core."  
Yieggo's hands seemed to flicker faster than the eye could see over the navigation controls as she complied with excited laughter.   
The Hand banked to starboard hard and they entered a crevasse of ancient vessels, so covered in rock and age that knowing where or when they came from was almost impossible.  
The swarm followed them but was forced into the narrower passage as it did so. The canons fired again as they came into range and left more floating motionless in its wake.  
Still they came, hundreds more squirming and skittering along as many of the insects at the edge of the tunnel abandoned flight to crawl along the tunnels surface.  
The ship rocked again as it collided with an exposed shard of metal from one of the derelict ships. Maaralk knew this could not continue.   
"Charge the lances."  
"But Captain..." Kaass began, about to explain that they would explode if powered up again.  
"I know," he assured her. "Charge them anyway and prepare to jettison them on my mark. We'll close off the tunnel behind us."  
"Yesss Captain." and Kaass prepared to drop the improvised bomb.  
"We are approaching the end of the tunnel." Vlash informed him.  
"NOW!" Maaralk ordered and Kaass released the mechanism affixing the lances , leaving them to collide with the tunnel walls as the swarm encroached upon it. They passed over the energy banks and many became distracted by it, like carrion insects about rotting meat.  
The Hand only just cleared the tunnel before the abyss generators went critical and released an unfettered blast of dark energy that left a great sphere, swarm and all, vaporized in the tunnel behind them. A great rumbling was felt all around them as the huge gap newly formed in the narrow tunnel began to collapse in upon itself. Dust and debri came spilling out as it plugged the passages exit and sending thick clouds into the wider chamber.  
Maaralk lay back in his chair.   
"Report."  
"The swarm is no longer pursuing us. The tunnel is completely collapsed."  
"Status?"  
"Minor hull damage, systems functioning normally. Loss of both lances."  
It was not terrible but still. The loss of the lances was a blow he'd have to deal with sooner or later. Especially since they could not exit the same what they entered and even though there were many passages and tunnels none were guaranteed to lead to the asteroids exterior.  
Holding his fingers across his face as he sat forward and looked out the view window while the dust dispersed he was faced with no option but to proceed onward.  
"Give me a route to the core from our current position."  
After a moment the window had another small screen that layout a three dimensional path for them.  
"Is there any energy signature?"  
Vlash's brow furrowed.  
"The harmonic residue is strong but there is something that flickers in and out of our scans. The signature is Aeldari Captain."  
All eyes looked to Vlash then to Maaralk.  
"Excellent. Let's waste no more time. I've spent the last four hundred cycles in this rock and I don't want to be here any longer than I have to. Yieggo, get us to the source of that energy reading."  
Yieggo let out a delighted cackle as she returned to the ships navigation controls and they began to move again, selecting another tunnel to take them deeper into the asteroid.


	6. Making a statement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a breather to scan for the Eye of Yciss.   
> Maaralk checks in on Vu'atta.

Another cavern, the fourth since the Wanton Hand had escaped the Necron machines. Maaralk was growing impatient. Each scan was negative and the fact that they could only accurately scan one cavern at a time meant they moved at an agonizingly slow pace.  
"Kaass, you have the bridge, keep me informed of any updates." He said dismissively as he stood and went to the door. It opened automatically as he passed through and headed straight down the hallway.  
When he came to the room he had left Vu'atta in he dd not give single notion to her privacy before he opened the door.  
She immediately stood up and away from the console as if she was caught doing something she was not supposed to.  
For a moment they only stared at each other.  
"I see you have accustomed yourself to your surroundings." Maaralk said indicating her makeshift new clothing. She looked down at them in distress.  
"They, there was, nothing else to work with." She said self consciously.  
"And the console, you've been able to use it?" He stepped inside the room and the door closed behind him. She backed up to behind the seat at the console.  
"Some of it, there's a lot I don't understand." It was true enough but she was wary of telling him how much she could understand.  
"It will come to you I'm sure, you're very clever." He was inspecting the cradle now and the cut fabric "And resourceful. That's good."  
"Why did you take me here?" She blurted, causing him to turn and address her.  
"Because I've been away for four hundred solar cycles. I need information on how the galaxy has changed."   
She suddenly feared that she would not know what he desired. It was a fear rooted in knowledge. No one could know all. Yet if she was to be found lacking she had no doubt that he would feed her to the monster Kaass.  
"What would you know?" Her voice almost broke.  
"Who are you, your people? Where did you come from?" He moved closer to her, his mask echoed his breathing menacingly.  
Vu'atta frowned. "We are the Tau of Tau. Sharing the name with our home world. Our people seek peace and unity through the teachings of the Ethereals."  
Maaralk leaned over her and palmed the console command. A map of the galaxy appeared on the screen.  
"Show me." He commanded.  
Vu'atta tore here gaze from her captor to look at the map. Many of the signs were unknown to her but she was able to make out the familiar shape of some areas. Her hand went to a small cluster of systems.  
"There, that's the Tau, we are here." Her hand moved down the screen a fraction. "We are here. The asteroid appeared not long ago."  
Maaralk's eyes looked at the symbols around the star systems. They were inhabited but there was nothing that told him of such technology and even four hundred cycles would not be enough for any species to gain such development so quickly.  
"How?"  
"What?"  
"How did you do it? How have you gained so much in so short a time?"  
"I... I don't understand."  
He beared down on her, his frame dwarfing her own as she cowered against the wall.  
"This vessel's records are out of date but only by four hundred cycles and it says that these star systems have no space faring capabilities. There is no way a civilization can achieve such leaps in technology as you have without assistance. Now tell me. How was it done?"  
Vu'atta's eyes went wide with fear.  
"I don't know. We just..."  
He struck her. She reeled sideways, nursing the side of her face.  
"You are my crew. You belong to me and you will answer when I ask you." Again he pointed to the screen.  
"Do you want me to believe that you did this yourselves? Look at you, your warriors were undone by a handful of people who were unconscious for hundreds of cycles. You have weaponry like I have never seen but you you have yet to breach these systems?"  
He grabbed her by the collar and held her up to face him.  
"What secret are you hiding, what are you protecting? An artifact? A god? Speak!"  
Her cowering sickened him, usually he'd enjoy it but time was growing short and once they did find the Eye and escape the asteroid then he'd need to know the Tau if he was to get them to a working Webway.  
He could see her mind searching for something, an inkling of what he might be looking for.  
"The Ethereals." She said at last and he stood up, giving her some room.  
"Go on."  
"The history of our people tells us that once, we were warring among ourselves. Then the Ethereals came and brought the wisdom of the Greater Good to us. They united us in common cause and we have..." She paused and looked at Maaralk, he was listening but what he thought of it was unreadable, Vu'atta continued nervously "...and we have observed that many of the peoples on other worlds struggle to unite and this slows their technological progress."  
Maaralk took a step back and let out a menacing laugh.  
"How wondrous and convenient that you had these Ethereals to show you how to stop fighting." He cackled mockingly at her.  
"It's true." She protested indingnantally, her pain forgotten. "They brought our people unity and we sought the stars together."  
Maaralk thought about this, still laughing to himself, it was not so unbelievable really. What he knew of his own people was not vastly different. Elevated by greater powers.   
After a moment he spoke.  
"So these, Ethereals, what do they look like?"  
"Well, quite like the rest of us really, though taller than my caste."  
"Hmm. So there's that." He remarked. "Are you so certain that they are Tau?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"Can you be sure that they are not aliens, subjugating your race to their will?"  
"Don't be foolish, they would never lie to us."  
"Then I can guarantee that they are lying to you. For what other service does such a belief hold than to cloud ones eyes to deceit?"  
Vu'atta's reply caught in her throat. It did make a certain twisted sense, didn't it?  
"We are happy. We seek only peace..."  
"With such impressive weapons?"  
Again she was finding herself stumbling for words.   
"We must defend ourselves. With such enemies as... as,"  
"As I you mean. Yes well. I cannot fault you on that point. There's even worse than me roaming the dark sea though not many." His grin spread under his mask, making his features move. "So now that we know who you are and what you want. I need to know something else."  
Vu'atta did not appear to be up for much more.  
"Can you walk among the stars?"


	7. Stepping into the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding a likely location for the Eye of Yciss, the crew leaves The Wanton Hand to retrieve it but danger is ever present.

Vu'atta stared into the blackness of the portal and tried to will herself to be anywhere else than where she was.  
The outside of the ship was vast nothing and though she knew them to be in the asteroid it could not have seemed more the opposite to her senses to step out into the void.  
"I..."  
"If she say's "I can't" one more time I'll puncture her suit." Yieggo threatened through the modified smiling face of her own void suit.  
Despite her threat it was Kaass who finally had to shove her through the airlock and into the dark unknown.  
The readings were strongest in this cavern and a derelict vessel was the source.   
Maaralk made them all suit up and prepare to get the Eye. He and Vlash had gone out first and were awaiting the others on the hull of the mysterious craft.  
By the time Vu'atta, Kaass and Yieggo made their decent onto the hull(Vu'atta's being particularly lacking in grace) Maaralk was already inspecting a hull breach.  
"The head speeds on without its body." Vlash said derisively.  
Kaass gave him a look of mistrust but aid nothing as she urged Vu'atta onward after Vlash. Yieggo followed behind, scanning as she did for any unexpected visits from the Necrontyr machines.  
It took a while for Vu'atta to get used to her new surroundings, she had never walked in space before, the low atmosphere and weak gravity played with her blood pressure as she walked, aided by magnetic boots, on the surface of the ancient vessel. One of the first things that caught her attention was how cozy the suit was, of course it was too tall for her and pinched in some uncomfortable places but it was warm and the air inside was fresh with each breath. It made looking out into the cavern easier and now that she was not immediately fearing her surroundings she found an allure to the cavern that she did not expect. Each jutting piece of metal and geode cluster was ancient beyond the counting of cycles.   
"How could we miss this?"  
Kaass looked at her though her helmet with puzzlement.   
"We've been looking for salvage here for weeks and all we could find was your ship, we assumed there was more but nothing like this. The minerals alone mined from this asteroid could fund a new Ring."  
"Ring?" Kaass inquire.  
"Nevermind. It's just a lot to take in. I've never..."  
"Never been on a ssspassce walk, I know."  
As they approached the hull breach that would grant them access to the ship Vu'atta saw Vlash ready himself to stand sentinel at the entrance.  
"You're not coming with us?" Vu'atta asked, quite forgetting herself. The instant he shot her his look of utter disdain she shrank back into the excess of her suit.  
Kaass gave what might be considered a hissing chuckle, Yieggo seemed to miss the exchange as she found something of interest on the scanners. Without warning she leaped over them and dove into the ships interior head first. Vlash turned in surprise and activated his communicator.  
"What distant star beckons?"  
The answer came over all of their channels.  
"Kaela wars in darkness."  
What does that meaaAAGH!"  
Kaass had scooped up Vu'atta and was now slithering down into the gap after Yieggo.  
"STOP!"  
Kaass did not stop, nor did she answer. She passed through rooms Vu'atta did not know with purposes she did not understand. Yieggo could be spotted sometimes, just ahead, darting into a doorway or up through and access shaft before the sounds of gunfire could be heard as the approached and at once Vu'atta understood that Maaralk was under attack.  
Indeed he was fending off a series of small and strange beings. Little red balls with teeth and legs that hopped about in the darkness, snarling and jabbering as they did.   
Maaralk had felled two of the beasts, one was cleft in twin by his chainsword and another was covered in shards from his splinter pistol making it look like a small spined creature. One of the creatures leapt for Yieggo as soon as it noticed her, its mouth practically the size of its own body, as it hopped towards her with utter conviction. A few short shots from her pistol sent it reeling back as the tiny bladed disks carved the creatures top half from its bottom jaws and feet. The putrid blood pooled into the low gravity of the ship and hung like warbling rotten fruit before splashing into walls, floors and ceiling.  
In another moment she was engaged with another group of them that flooded out of the vents. She fed her powered claw into one of their waiting maws. The creatures eyes popped and then the rest of it burst like a pustule, spraying her in its purple innards.  
The spray blinded her and that made it easy for the rest of the creatures to latch onto her and begin  
Maaralk Shot a few of the creatures latched to Yieggo as Kaass entered the room firing her pistols at any available targets. Vu'atta cowered as much as she could in Kaass's arms. One of the monsters looked to be jumping right for her but Kaass mighty tail crushed it against a bulkhead with a loud splat.  
Maaralk sprang to Yieggo's aid, slicing off the gnashing beasts with his chainsword in fast, precise swings. The space was filling with limply floating bodies and slow falling blood making it harder to see with every glob that stained their visors.  
The sudden turn in the tide startled the alien monsters and they soon fled, yipping and jabbering as they went. Yieggo was left half floating, her suit torn almost beyond repair and her body marred in large bites, some of which had taken whole chunks of her flesh out.  
Vu'atta moved towards her, freed from Kaass grasp and began to examine Yieggo. She was struggling to breath in the low atmosphere and despite her injuries being severe she would not last long if the suits tatters were not patched up quickly.  
But there was no material, nothing but bits of old, ruined panels and the dead aliens... Grabbing a chunk of one of the strange creatures bodies she took out one of the sharp cutting tools she had packed with her in what she hoped would be an adequate medical kit and began to carve out the innards trying to clean them best she could with what she had at hand.  
Kaass and Maaralk watched patiently while keeping an eye out in case the aliens returned or perhaps something worse happened upon them.  
Once a piece large enough was ready Vu'atta took an odd gun-like devise from her hip, she had tested it before in her room after finding it in a storage panel and found that it seemed to fire hundreds of tiny wired barbs. She though it might be useful if she needed to defend herself in a pinch but now it would have to serve as a means of stitching up the shredded suit. Just as with the fabric before the mechanics were the same as sewing a body shut. An old technique but still taught for field dressings and low resource surgery's. When the first few patches were done she noticed Maaralk was assisting by gathering a few of the bigger pieces of alien flesh and picking the larger pieces of bone and muscle out of them. It helped speed things up. Vu'atta lost track of time in the endlessness between beginning emergency surgery and ending it.   
When it was over Yieggo was still struggling to breath but she was contained, her suit successfully patched with slabs of gutted alien flesh.   
"Those drugs you take, how does the suit activate them?" She asked Maaralk.  
"A panel on the wrist, here." He reached down and activated the stim injector. It sent pain relieving and blood clotting gas into the suit, mingling with the contained air. Her breathing stabilized and for the moment her vitals seemed normal.  
"She needs to get proper care and I can't do that here." Vu'atta stated plainly.  
Maaralk growled, unwilling to give up his prize so close to it.  
"How long will she last?"  
"I don't know, not long." Vu'atta replied.  
"Kaass, carry Yieggo, we're pushing on." With that he took Yieggo's scanner and began to hop his way along deeper into the ship. Kaass ignored Vu'atta's protests as she hoisted the Eldari onto her arms and began after him leaving Vu'atta to follow. She picked her way along, guiding her long jumps through low gravity with handholds of door frames and loose panels.  
The ship's interior was odd, unlike anything she had seen before. Neither like the sleek well lit ships of the Tau or the dark jagged hallways of the Aeldari vessel. It's hallways were almost biological in shape though dry and clearly integrated with mechanical parts. It was in its own way even more unnerving than the Wanton Hand.   
The lights from her suit shone only a short distance ahead of her but she could see the lights from Kaass's suit when she entered long corridors. Every time she passed an adjacent corridor or connecting hallway she feared more of those screaming monsters would be there. She tried to comfort herself in the knowledge that Kaass and Maaralk wanted her alive, that they would come to help her if she called but in the dark of the unknown that was cold comfort especially given how much Maaralk was risking Yieggo's life.  
Maaralk was after this artifact, this Eye of Yciss and now that he felt he was close there was nothing he might not sacrifice.   
They came upon a vast room, similar to the Tau Hangar in scope but a perfect hollow sphere. The bio-mechanical walls extended tendrils of bone-like machine reaching for the dark center of the room. Maaralk had stopped and was hanging off the wall floating with Kaass coiled about a section of support beam that more resembled a rib than a metal pole. It left her with three free hands though while one still carried Yieggo.  
Maaralk pointed towards the unseen core of the room.  
"There." He said.  
Vu'atta tried to see it, something glimmering in the dark perhaps, but there was nothing.  
"Stay here. I'm going to get the Eye and then we can return to the Hand.  
Vu'atta watched as he kicked himself off and let himself sail into the blackness.


	8. The Eye of Yciss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maaralk confronts a mysterious entity to uncover his past but not all is as it seems.

It was the end of the game.  
Maaralk's unknown life would soon be known to him. He would be complete again. Such was his desire for himself that he soared recklessly into towards the core, now so deep inside the vast dark that he could no longer see any point of the spherical rooms walls. Yet everywhere the reaching bio-machine tendrils reached towards the center. He used them as navigation, repelling off them and even travelling down them until they ended either in frayed wires or pointed spikes of unknown function.  
Deeper and deeper he went, as if into his own minds emptiness and just as he knew somewhere within his brain lay his own memories he knew, he KNEW, that the Eye of Yciss was here waiting for him.

A light appeared in the shape of an Aeldar, a woman he didn't know but was all at once familiar to him. She was bathed in light as if illuminated by her own bioluminescence. She didn't move, in fact nothing of her moved, not her hair in the low gravity nor her chest to partake of the deadly thin air. Her eyes were closed in a look of serene calm.  
The blackness about him closed in until not even the reaching tendrils could be seen. In all the vast gloom there was only himself and her floating in the dark together, the others and the galaxy a seemingly endless distance away.  
He checked the scanner, it's readings claimed he had arrived at the source of the energy readings.   
"Who are you? Where is the Eye?" He demanded.  
She did not answer, she did not move in any way that told him she had even heard or understood him.   
He pointed his pistol at her.  
"The Eye, I won't ask again."  
A voice like an icicle piercing his brain sounded in his mind.  
"YOU DARE THREATEN!" It was commanding, threatening. A will unbreakable.   
He was shaken for a moment, only a moment. Pain was ignorible and if all she had was threats then he would master her.  
"I dare. I dare anything. Such is my right."  
Again the spike of ice wedged itself in his skull.  
"WHO ARE YOU THAT HAS SUCH A RIGHT?"  
This time it was much worse, he felt his mask fill with blood from his nostril but he would not bend to her. He bent to none but he admitted to himself that was not a certainty. Her question hurt him more than the pain in his head. Was he so transparent to her, was she a warlock to have such power to see into the soul?  
"I am one who seeks the Eye of Yciss."  
The next time he heard her voice there was no pain.  
"THE EYE DOES NOT OPEN TO ALL!"  
This was progress of a sort, he'd take it.  
"I have crossed space and time to reach it. I have given all I am that I may possess it. My ship, my crew, none of it matters if I can get back what is mine."  
"YOU WOULD SACRIFICE THOSE WHO SERVE YOU?"  
"Yes."  
"AND THOSE WHO LOVE YOU?"  
"Gladly!"  
He spoke the word in such haste that he did not have time to regret it. Yieggo and Vlash he would give, all the stars and ships that flew among them he would see gone, even Vu'atta, the curious alien was expendable but he felt the guilt of forgoing Kaass. Of consigning her to endlessness for the sake of himself.  
It was a lie but unlike most any other it was a lie to himself.  
Before he could take it back even in thought the woman's light blinked out and he was in darkness.   
"No!"  
He was alone with himself. No memories had been returned to him.   
"NOOOO!"  
He fired his pistol at the space she had occupied.   
"COME BACK!"  
He looked about, his torch scanning the nothingness about him as he looked for some sign of her.  
"WHO AM I?"  
He screamed and fired again, infuriated at being denied himself.  
"YOU WILL ANSWER ME!"

"CAPTAIN!"  
Vu'atta's voice was high and alert, Maaralk was with them at the entrance to the spherical room again. He was pointing his pistol at Vu'atta, as she covered Kaass's body.   
Puzzled and alarmed at his sudden change in position Maaralk kept his gun up at her.  
"Explain yourself!" He ordered.  
Vu'atta was shaking but she didn't move from her position between him and Kaass. He looked at her and saw the distinctive puncture wounds and pain shards that could only have come from his own pistol.  
"No." He said in shocked realization. He reached out to heck on her but Vu'atta drew her stitching gun and waved it at him.  
"Stay back!" She warned.  
"You dare pull a weapon on me?"  
"I won't let you kill us."  
Kill us? He repeated it to himself in his mind but looking at Kaass's pained expression and Yieggo's limp body he grokked. Sparing a glance at the scanner and saw that the energy signature was gone now. His brain worked fast to run through the possibilities, warp interference, a false reading, some kind of beacon? He had many questions to ask once they returned to the Hand.  
"Let me help with her." He asked Vu'atta who seemed hesitant to allow it.  
"You cannot carry her through this ship alone, not in time enough to save them both." Though Kaass was in no mortal danger Maaralk knew she was in agony as the tiny shards began to spread throughout her body shredding her at a cellular level.  
Vu'atta looked to be doing some internal calculations and nodded acceptance at him.  
Together they hoist Kaass up, keeping Yieggo attached via another careful use of the stitching gun.   
Behind them the scanner floated silently and forgotten into the darkness of the spherical room.


	9. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With The Eye of Yciss no longer in reach and his crew in shambles, Maraalka must now escape the Space Hulk and the Necrons.

Vlash stood sentry alone, the darkness of the great cavern threatened to consume him. His tiny body clad in sleek black armour keeping out the cold of the thin atmosphere. His helmet scanned the area about him in long sweeps.   
A blip, small but definitely there. He tilted his head to view the tiny motte that floated through the darkness like a wandering star. Yet it moved of its own volition, not coaxed by any form of wind or outside motion. It moved rhythmically, with purpose and all too late Vlash realised what it must have been.   
A probe, skittering in the dark, its tiny metal head clacking mandibles together. It fluttered on wings of glass as it came closer and closer. Vlash knew it would find The Hand soon and when it did a relay beacon would broadcast their position to the rest of the Necron host.  
He Readied his blades by extending his arms and leaning forward slowly. The pose was routine but the realities of low gravity made the motion slower than he was used to. He waited, watching the tiny machine scout until it was in optimum range and threw one of his swords at it. The weapon was typically held blade inward and was curved, this design not only accommodated great effect in defense but also the flexibility to make it a deadly and precise thrown weapon.   
Although the low gravity meant he had to use more force than he was used to Vlash got great pleasure in seeing his weapon slice through the air in a wide curve then the probe itself. The wrecked piece of technology drifted slowly through the low gravity of the cavern. It was as he caught his curved sword again that he recieved a message from his Captain.  
"Prepare the ship Vlash we are leaving."  
As Vlash headed to the ship in great strides he thought leaving now was a prudent measure, since he noticed the telltale green blinks of Necron teleportations.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Maaralk and the others made it onto the ship the many irregular Necron shapes were surrounding them and almost within range of their weapons. As the Captain took his seat Vlash was already firing up the engines, they kicked into action and they set off through the dark caverns.  
"The only course out of the asteroid is directly above us."  
"Take us there, get us away from this damned place."  
Outside the firing of Necron energy weapons hissed passed, some finding their mark on the side of the ship causing the lights to dim for a moment. They were quickly on the move and heading upward towards the top of the cavern and a hopefully swift exit.  
Maaralk hit a communication rune on his dashboard.  
"Vu'atta, report to the bridge, we need another pair of hands."  
"But I just got Yieggo and Kaass..."  
"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER SURGEON. TO THE BRIDGE!"  
He interrupted and moved himself to the weapons console. The small targeting lense appeared on the main viewer, showing the view from the dual splinter cannon. The Necron machines aimed up at them, firing into the blackness hoping to destroy them. He fired back at them sending a few of them blasting back into the dark as they were dislodged from the hull of the massive ship and slowly floated away.  
Vu'atta entered the briddge and Maraalk instructed her to take control of the sensor array. She sat and looked at the symbols in front of her, having no idea what they meant.  
"What am I looking for?" She asked starting to panic as the ship rocked from a stray blast that connected with the hull.  
"Just rotate the flashing gem, the one with the serpent symbol."  
Vu'atta saw it flash and turned the gem ninety degrees until it stopped flashing. The monitor now showed another circular screen displaying a close up of a large moving swarm of the Necron drones.  
"They're after us again Vlash!" Maraalka warned, looking at the new screen.  
Vlash did not reply, he stayed the course, making only minor course adjustments to keep the swarm as far away from them as possible as they made their way to the exit tunnel.

Behind them the small circular screen showed another massing of the insect like drones. The swarm followed them like a dreadful cloud of metal as they soared upward into the darkness. From this point the map inlay showed a gap in the tunnel, an aft passage in the maze of the asteroids structure. Vlash swerved into it. A screeching impact of rock and ship rattled the bridge, console alarms lit up and somewhere the ventilation system began to depressurize a hole in the hull.  
A flash of green energy appeared next to Maraalka and a Necron warrior with a large bladed arm that whirled and spun with frightening speed arcked downwards at him. He managed to evade the surprise attack but the weapons console was destroyed thoroughly. It's head tracked his motion with dreadful precision and it made to advance on him again but this time he had drawn his pistol and with the pommel blade he deflected the clumsy strike though the force of it carried away from his body struck the floor of the deck and sparked violently as the spinning blades dug a cut into the panels.  
The Necron's metal arm jerked as it tried to remove it but it wouldn't budge. Maraalka took his advantage and rapidly unleashed a deadly barrage of splinter shots directly into the chrome skull of the ancient machine. He did not stop until the baleful green light from its eyes faded.   
"They're tracking us, it must be our energy signature. Vlash we need an exit."  
Vlash said nothing, only held course and guided them through the narrow passage.   
"Vu'atta, the signal scrambler is the triangl..."   
The Necron's free hand gripped Maraalka's throat like a vice and began to squeeze, his eyes bulged and face turned dark with blood pressure.  
Vuatta stood and aimed the surgeons stappler at the revived Necron, it's one remaining eyes promised death within its lifeless green glow. She fired and fired again, her cries of fear accompanying each shot until the magazine was empty. When it was done the death machine went limp again and in a second flash of green light vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Maraalka breathed in much needed air and fell to his hands and knees. Vu'atta made to help him but he flared at her touch.  
"Back to your station." His hoarse voice commanded even as he shakily got himself to his feet. Within a moment he was at his command chair and sitting while he rubbed at his already bruised throat as they sailed out.  
"The scrambler Captain?" Vu'atta reminded him.  
By answer he only pointed at the console to a triangle shaped gem with a stylised eye on it. Obediently Vu'atta turned the gem and it glowed a deep red colour. The scrambler was activated.  
Without speaking another word they watched as the confined dark of the Chaos Asteroid gave way to the beautiful and glittering heavens. Vu'atta breathed a deep sigh of relief as she watched them navigate the surface as they made an almost full rotation to get to some unknown trajectory. She would have asked where they were headed but Maraalka did not seem forthcoming and Vlash was still a frightening presence to her.  
She contented herself to watch and wait. She saw the first Tau ship, a small thing used to transport troops swing past them without taking much notice and it made her wonder whether they had seen them.   
"Turn off the Scrambler, we should still be connected to their frequency." Vlash said and Vu'atta silently complied. The moment the gem stopped glowing a transmition appeared on the screen. She recognised the communications officer making the broadcast. It was N'otto, they had graduated the academy on the same day.  
"...boarded by an unknown assailant... machines... help... please help..."   
Vu'atta turned the scrambler on again and turned to Maraalka, who was still tending his wounded neck. His dark eyes met hers without a shred of pity. She had to try anyway, even knowing his response as she did.  
"Please..."   
"Just one of those things nearly killed me." He cut her off, still struggling to speak but fighting through the pain to be clear "half my crew is too injured to fight and you have almost no combat experience. If we go to them now we are all going to die and what good will be served then, hmm?"   
Looking at the screen she saw now The Voice of Prophecy come into view and her heart broke again. It was a ruin, bits of debry surrounded it and massive chunks of hull were exposing the interior to the vacuum of space. Small clouds of bodies hovered in petrified orbit about it and in that moment she knew it was hopeless but still she craved to do something, anything. Something for them, even if it's just...  
"Can we... do we still have weapons?" She asked tentatively, choking back the reality of her words, what she was about to suggest.  
Vlash turned to look at her, his dark eyes questioning her silently.  
"We have the forward splinter cannons, they are damaged but functional." He answered, matter of fact.  
Vu'atta stood and walked towards the view screen displaying The Voice of Prophecy and pointed to a spot just before the main engines.  
"Here," Her grief caught in her mouth and all she could manage was to tap the screen again.  
Behind her Vlash threw a quick look at Maraalka who nodded permission.  
Vlash locked on the target and fired. The engines ruptured and a blue explosion cascaded into blinding white light. The silence was deafening and when the blast was done nothing but dust remained. The Voice of Prophecy was completely destroyed and with it, any of the Necron machines that were on board.  
Vu'atta fell to the floor and wept for her people. To leave was one thing but to die like that, at the hands of those soulless things. It flew against everything, everything she was taught, all she grew to love and believe in. 

The next few rotations were busied with what maintenance could be achieved on the ship and Vu'atta found no shortage of work to keep her occupied. Thankfully Yieggo recovered fully with only a few treatments, the worst of it was repressurising her body to stable levels. Kaass on the other hand was a mystery to her. The Empire had never seen such a creature, not up close at least and certainly not had the ability to learn about their physiology, thankfully she seemed to share a highly active cellular regeneration and once the foreign objects were removed she needed only rest and monitoring with intervenous feeding. By the time they reached the Webway Gate at the solar systems edge the crew was as healthy as they could have expected to be.  
They gathered on the deck of the ship and it was the first time Vu'atta had seen such a thing. From the records with the Eldari emissaries she heard of them but to see it, the majesty of this technology that looked more like a living stone than any form of alloy or polimer. It's size could have allowed for hundreds of ships to pass through it all at once, whole fleets could be moved in seconds.   
She took a step closer to the view screen, her mouth open in wonder and awe.  
"Well?" Maraalka asked her, it caused her to pause and she spun on the spot to face him, suddenly worried she may have been to engrossed to be listening.  
"I'm sorry?" She asked innocently. Kaass gave a hiss that she was beginning to think may have been a laugh.  
"What does our new crew mate from the Tau Empire think of my peoples little contribution to the Galaxy?" Maraalka clarified.  
Vu'atta turned to gaze upon the Webway Gate again it was like staring into living history. Not just of the Eldari but of the whole Universe.  
"It's breathtaking."  
"Yes it is, isn't it?" Maraalka confirmed "Open it, take us out of this forsaken place."  
Yieggo gave a nod and affirming hand gesture and rearranged the gems on the helm console. The great portal began to crackle with vibrant purple lines of electric discharge. They connected to eachother like threads, weaving a great tapestry across the stars. Soon a wondrous tunnel of sparking energy was before them.  
"Where are we going?" Vu'atta asked, suddenly aware that she might be the first of her kind to make such a journey.  
Maraalka smiled.  
"Why, we are going home of course." and he began to laugh, a cruel noise that was picked up by Yieggo. Vu'atta spun to retreat from the room but Vlash was there before her, when had he arrived, was he always there? His cruel helmet made no sound but it amplified her fear as she turned again to see Kaass watching her. That great forked tongue of hers darting out and her large red alien eyes holding no comfort.  
She did not know what was going to happen next, only that she was very afraid and they had already passed the Event Horizon of the Webway.


	10. Home is where the hurt is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crew of the Wanton Hand arrive at Commorragh, the City of Screams and Maraalka reunites with his existing family but all is not as cheerful as it appears and Captain Maraalka is left with a hard decision to make.

Commorragh, the endless city, under a sky of screams the denizens of Commorragh rise up from the base to the top of the tallest tower on waves of despair and currents of agony. After transmitting the access codes for landing Captain Maraalka's small but sturdy raiding starship The Wanton Hand cruised along the dark backdrop of the Webway and stopped just over the landing platform high on one of the many spires that erupted from the city floor. It hovered over the platform as it made micro adjustments to land. The impact it made as it collided with the platform was light and easy.   
The damage from its battles and escapes was evident to any who cared to look and no doubt the small crowd that came to look was waiting with some apprehension and no small amount of weaponry.

At the head of the crowd was a solitary figure. Draped in blood stained finery, the cutting tool still in her delicate hand as her wide eyes and heavy breath betrayed the speed at which she made her way there. The ever changin winds of the Webway threw her long hair about her in a web of red and white. Behind her a line of 5 house warriors in elaborate but functional armour stood at attention.  
The hatch of the Hand opened, steaming mist as the pressure changed inside. The guns of the house guards trained on the portal and let out a hum of power as they armed.  
The woman in front held her breath and waited for the door to open. What she saw made her drop the cutting tool and run out towards the ship. With utter abandon she flung herself around Maraalka as he emerged from the ship. He caught her with surprise and did not object to the closeness of this stranger. His ship had taken them to the platform on auto-pilot. Commorragh he knew was his home and the logs of his vessel told him how to access it but this woman and this spire was not familiar to him in the slightest.   
"My son."   
Her words stirred nothing in him, no recollection of sight, smell or sound gave him anything at all.   
"Mother."   
He replied mechanically, knowing the right word but without any of the association that he knew should come with it. Behind his mother he saw the house guards stay their weapons and stand to attention. It must be true then, his emotions told him to let go and embrace her back. So far they had not led him astray so he reached up and pulled her in and felt her tears prickle on his bare shoulders.  
"Now now Mother." He eased, stroking her hair, the motion felt natural and was not ill received. "I have come home at last. All will be well."  
His Mother leaned back and looked at him, her face an open book of emotions. There was relief, love and a hint of sadness. Maraalka wondered if he should ask about it or try to guess at what she might be thinking.   
"Is something the matter?" He decided to ask.  
His Mother shook her head and smiled widely.   
"It is relief my son. I was afraid you were lost. 400 Cycles is a long time."  
Behind him he heard the others on the ship shuffled to the portal so he lead his Mother away from the ship.  
"There is much to tell you but first my crew and I are exhausted and desperately want to eat some real food."  
It was true, the rations on board were less than appealing after 400 Cycles, so much so that he had openly expressed to Kaass more than once that he wished he had her metabolism and only needed to eat once every few days.  
"Of course, We have missed Vlash." A statement that caught him by surprise given the deep animosity he felt from the man.   
"Yes, Vlash is well as are the others." He stumbled through, hoping to move on quickly. The others joined him, Vlash leading with a curt bow "Lady Cybek." followed by Yieggo who flourished a curtsy "Honoured Mother." and finally Vu'atta, Sheepishly from the shadows of the craft came out in ill fitting clothes "My Lady." she offered in her best passable Aeldari, though not able to mask her shock at seeing the Lady of the House so covered in blood.  
Lady Cybek looked at her with blatant judgement.  
"And this creature?"  
"A recent edition, Vu'atta of the Tau, taken as a prize from the flagship that captured me." His voice swelled with pride as he spoke, despite her obvious discomfort.   
At last Kaass arrived from the ship, with the two pilots in tow behind her.  
"Ah, yes." Maraalka went on. "Gifts for the House. Two pilots trained in their Alien technologies. For you."  
Lady Cybek looked them over, her dark eyes cutting through them as one might judge a piece of fruit before purchase. Seemingly satisfied she returned attention to her son.  
"You always bring me the most exotic things. Thank you my son."  
Her face forgot her disdain and she smiled sweetly as she beckoned over a House Guard to take them away.   
Vu'atta felt like doing something, saying something but Yieggo's hand fell on her shoulder with insistent pressure and whispered to her "They are lost but you are not, whatever cause you may hope for them you cannot fullfil it while dead or in bondage." It was only when Vu'atta's shoulders leased a fraction of their tension that Yieggo let go, sliding her hand down the back of Vu'atta's vestments. It was almost comforting but Vu'atta knew that Yieggo was a woman of contrasts, cruel and kind in equal measure and with no clear tell as to which is to come until it arrives. "We shall speak on this later, and on other things my friend."  
Being called friend was perhaps worse than the feeling of being held back. That cold feeling tugged at her belly again reminding her of the danger she was in with these people.  
"There shall be a celebration. All our friends and allies must know that you have returned and how strong you are."  
Maraalka let his mother take his arm and lead him away leaving Vlash to follow and Vu'atta to be flanked by Yieggo and followed by Kaass. As she watched her former crew mates be taken away Vu'atta somehow knew that she would ever see them again.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The word was decadent but even it seemed lackluster to describe the interior of the spire that was Captain Maraalka's family home. Under the Tau Vu'atta had never seen such luxury, not even in the highest of offices. Every object was lavishly adorned with opulent dressing and trappings. From the gemstone skulls that made up the hundreds of chandeliers to the polished stone of the flour wrought with precious minerals. There was not a single corner of the spire that did not exude utter splendour.  
Vu'atta was trying her best not to be humbled by it all which the liberal weapons hanging on the walls. The threat was in equal measure to the opulence.  
"Let us begin."   
Yieggo sat on a chair in a room bigger than any Vu'atta had ever seen dedicated solely to clothing and drank a foul smelling liquid from a tall glass while Vu'atta stood for a fitting. The servants that tended her were quick and had light touches but it was all happening so quickly, she had only just gotten somewhat used to being on the ship and now this.   
"So, the nest of serpents has opened to you and now you wait to see what they smell."  
"Excuse me?" Vu'atta was more than a little distracted by the attendants, especially the ones fussing over her feet. She tried to shuffle away but with the four of them hovering about her there was nowhere to go.  
"The celebration, it will end you if you are not able to stay the blade."  
Vu'atta was having issue fully understanding Yieggo but she knew enough to get the meaning that for her own reasons Yieggo was warning her.  
"I know, I know I am not safe here. You have made that clear to me." She replied.  
"You think I hold the blade. I do not and I never did."  
"You tried to kill me."  
"I played my part."  
Vu'atta gave her a look but Yieggo's ever present golden mask remained impenetrable. One of the attendants slipped a small metallic glove onto her hand then removed it. Too many fingers.  
"Please stop."  
The attendants did not stop.  
"Get away from me."  
Another pulled her hair back sharply and painfully to quickly wrap it in a tight bun.  
"STOP!" Vu'atta said waving her arms at the Aeldari women.  
They stopped looked at her, surprised. Gingerly they approached but Vu'atta swiped at the again.  
"Stay away." She added, taking a step back from them. The two attendants looked at each other with expressions of worry.  
"Why, what, what are they doing?" Vu'atta asked.  
Yieggo gave a trill laugh and stood up.  
"These two have been instructed to prepare you for the Celebrations." She dropped her glass, now spent, and one of the attendants stooped low and caught it with startling swiftness.   
"If they fail in this, or any task, then Mistress Cybek will visit upon them the most... unique of punishments."  
"Even if I don't want them to?" Vu'atta asked, her stance softening.  
"What you want is not a part of the instruction." Yieggo sang.  
Vu'atta parsed this in her mind. It didn't occur to her that they would be punished and from what she had seen she imagined it would be severe. The veneer of her lavish surroundings fell away and she saw these women for what they were, slaves to their Mistress.   
She relented and allowed them to finish. Yieggo flitted about here and there, observing their work. In the end, Vu'atta looked a great deal less like herself, in a manner of dress that seamed all too tight to her, black with accents of gold and red. Her hair up and knotted with spined needles. Yieggo clapped her hands together loudly.  
"A triumph ladies, you may leave us now safe in the knowledge that you have performed your duties well."   
The slaves bowed and left with relief on their faces. Vu'atta did not know how much of that may have been for her benefit or what may have been elaborate misdirection.   
"You seem troubled." Yieggo inquired, poking her face uncomfortably close to Vu'atta forcing her to recoil from the sudden intrusion into her personal space.  
"I was just trying to understand..." She stopped herself. Yieggo was many things and none of them was trustworthy.  
"What is there to understand? You look well, except for your feet but we can't do anything about that now can we?" There was the hint of a threatening idea in her voice. Again Vu'atta tried to shuffle her cloven feet under her dress that they might not be seen.  
"Um, no I only wish I knew more about this place... the rules you know."   
Yieggo leaned back and placed her thumb and forefinger to the chin of her masked face.  
"I see. You fear to upset Lady Cybek and thus invoke our Captain's wrath. This is wise though I would fear her more than he."  
Seeing an opening in this Vu'atta took a chance.  
"Perhaps if I knew only a little more about them both I might not offend."  
Yieggo gave her a look that was again inscrutable under her mask.  
"Very well, what would you know?"  
This was a time to be extra careful, Vu'atta had not forgotten the casual way she had snapped that man's neck on The Voice of Prophecy.  
"Is there a way I can see those Pilots?"  
"No, they are as good as dead."  
"But they are not, dead I mean."  
"No. I should not think so. It would be wasteful. More likely they are being prepared for some display tonight, a showing off of the gifts."   
Yieggo sounded pleased with herself. Was she just "playing a part" now?  
"The Lady Cybek, will she kill me?"  
Yieggo's head tilted.  
"Why ever do you think she would kill you? You are not hers to kill."  
"The Captain then, he'll do it, if she commands him?"  
"The Captain has not done what she has told him to in a very long time. I should think that if he kills you it will be because he has grown tired of you."  
It was not all together the worst of what Vu'atta feared but that still left it a far ways from comforting news. She walked to the window, outside the few spires that reached up this far were almost hidden by thick purple smoke.   
"Then I am also a slave."  
Yieggo's face appeared beside hers in the reflected glass.  
"Yes."  
Vu'atta tried not to show how helpless she felt. It was all terrible to varying degrees but to hear it conformed was worse somehow. Like she couldn't hide from the reality of it.  
"... and no." Yieggo teased causing Vu'atta to turn to her.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You have an amount of freedom, it should be said. Of course you are not free to leave the crew. The Captain would stop you for such a thing. Least of all he would find it ungrateful."  
"Ungrateful? He, YOU all kidnapped me."  
"And yet you live while your ship and former crew are now killed by Necrons."  
That gave Vu'atta pause. Much as she resented being held against her will the truth of her circumstances remained that she was alive in fact because she had been kidnapped. She turned back to the window and looked out on the murky skyline. A ship came into view, fired its thrusters as it soared into the deepening mist.  
"So that is it then. I am a part of this crew, forever?"  
Yieggo's head cocked to one side as she added "Or until you die, which ever of those happens first."  
Frantic hopelessness threatened to clutch at Vu'atta's heart again. She felt weak in the pit of her stomach, like a great hole had appeared in her belly. She sank to her knees gasping, her hand against the glass. Yieggo folded her arms and leaned against the window looking down at her.  
"I thought that perhaps I was the dramatic one." She laughed to herself. It was not cruel simply amused by the situation. Vu'atta was finding it hard to breath her free hand went to try and ease the tightening in her chest. She knew what was happening, this was panic. Her mind was breaking under its own perception of events and triggering her bodies natural animal response to save itself. What she had to make it realise was that this was not going to help her survive.   
"Two, parts Ginosene. One part Hypocellite, burn at a low flame for, thirteen revolutions and add Vinopatri-4 as a, gaseus form to induce crystalisation..."  
Yieggo knelt down to her and asked "What are you doing?"  
"Formula, from my University, helps... helps me."  
She could feel it working, her breath was steadying and she felt a bit stronger in her legs. She began to stand, still mumbling her formulas to herself. Once upright she took a deep breath and steadied herself, balancing under her own power.  
"Well done." Yieggo gave a brief applause. "Perhaps you will survive us yet."  
Vu'atta gave the masked woman a merciless look.  
"I am the only one who knows what happened to The Voice of Prophecy. I must inform Imperial High Command of what happened. I cannot afford to let them stumble upon that Asteroid again. Better they burn it to atoms than anyone, Aeldari or Tau, ever set foot on that rock again."  
Yieggo threw out her arms and declared "Our Heroine has chosen her path, to save her people she shall endure the viles of the Galaxy. Only time itself shall prove her worthy of the task."  
She spoke as if to some unseen audience, loudly proclaiming this to an empty room.  
"Now" Her attention returned to Vu'atta "Let us face the masses and see if she can fulfill her vow."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You are dismissed."  
Maraalka waved his hand not looking at the slave his Mother had escort him and Kaass to his chambers. When the man hesitated Maraalka was quick to turn on him.  
"Are you deaf or foolish. I dismissed you Serf."  
"A hundred apologies Master Maraalka, the Lady Cybek insisted I should keep you company while you are here."  
Maraalka paused a moment, Kaass lowered her head submissively. He detected fear from the man, not of him though. Such an insult, without a further thought he drew his pistol and shot the man in the knee, the splinter shattering in the joint. The explosion of pain felled the slave. Kaass' tail began to shake, her eyes went wide.  
"Captain..."  
He silenced her with a gesture.  
"Agh, please Master, I meant only to do my duty... if I defy Lady Cybek she'll give me to the Haemonculi... Please have mercy."  
"Why then?"  
"What?"  
"Tell me why she is having you follow me? Does she suspect me of planning to kill her? Speak!"  
The slave gritted his teeth as a spike of pain took his body for a moment. Maraalka breathed in his pain and fear, felt it invigorate him.  
"No, it's her." He pointed with a blood stained hand to Kaass. She coiled her tail up tight under her body and crossed her arms.  
"Why does she care about Kaass? She is my guest and Consort."  
"It is because she is, an alien Master. You know her desire to see you join with a powerful house, if it became known that you preferred another... then a political alliance could be compromised but..." The slaves eyes locked on him in recognition and Maraalka suddenly understood that this was a well known fact about his House. He must have had heated debates with his Mother about such things, Kaass herself even. He saw it in the mans eyes, he knew something was off. Maraalka could not take any chances.  
The second shot was fired just as the bloodied hand raised and a vowel of protest escaped his lips. The slave's brain was hit with a shard and as it ruptured violently in his skull it tore the organ to pieces. Maraalka stared at the body with a hateful sneer.   
"Get rid of the body Kaass." He commanded.  
With some hesitation Kaass drew her desintigrator and fired, leaving only a brief cloud of orange vapour where the body used to be. Once the deed was done a stillness overcame the room. Maraalka stared into nothing as he stared at the door, his weapon still drawn as if he expected someone to come through it at any moment.  
Gingerly Kaass slithered over to him.  
"Captain,"   
His dark eyes shot to her and dared her to speak again. Kaass bit her tongue.  
"That slave drew a weapon on me, understand?"  
"Yes Captain, I saw it with my own eyes." Kaass replied after a moment "He must have acted alone, no doubt under orders from a rival House."  
"Yes, that must be it." Try as he might he could not shake the tremor from his words.  
Kaass lowered his weapon arm with her hand slowly and with two more drew his face to look at her own. His face was a mask of dread threatening to break at the slightest pressure.  
"She must not know Kaass. She cannot!" His teeth ground the last word from his mouth.  
Kaass swept her tail about him, as if to shelter him from their very surroundings. Her arms held him tightly.  
"She... she...!" Maraalka was overcome. The rush up until that point was all that had kept him going, all that held back the crushing reality of his lost memories. He had allowed himself a slip just one since he had awoken and it threatened everything. His Mother would use this information to mould him anew, make him the son he felt he never had been for her. Why else would she plan to marry him to another house? Why spend so much time away if he was happy here. He knew then that he had made a grave error, he had come back and despite his feelings of familial warmth which were no doubt simply the instinct of progeny it was instantly clear that he could not trust his mother.  
Another dark realisation came to him. Vlash had gone away with her. He had not stopped them since it seemed a natural act but now he regretted not keeping him close. If they suspected, even for a moment he would have cause to strike and without his previous knowledge of Vlash and what he could do his reliance on muscle memory would not nearly be enough to stop him.  
Fear, welling in him like a geyser burst forth with all the abandon of his people. Without warning he snapped out of his trance and grabbed Kaass by her lower shoulders, his eyes wide and dark.   
"We have to leave immediately!"


	11. The evening begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vlash updates Lady Cybek on their adventures while Vu'atta learns more about her Captain and his culture.

"Make yourself comfortable Vlash."  
Lady Cybek said as she sank into a lounging chair and tucked her legs up. Vlash, at attention since he arrived, stiffly took a seat opposite at an angle in front of the roaring purple flames of the fire. The colour a quirk of particular minerals added to the fire for just that purpose. The heat was welcome compared to the cold of the outside.  
"Now, tell me of my dear son's time away. I am most curious. as always."  
Vlash nodded and began.  
"Master Maraalka has been a most treacherous and devious Captain. Thinking only of himself and what profit is to be made from exploiting others. The latest Alien to join us is his latest project and already he has moulded her beyond what she thought herself capable."  
Lady Cybek smiled and waved her hand. From a small hole in the wall came a creature that might once have been an Aeldar but now was reshaped into stumpy limbs that only allowed it to shuffle awkwardly towards them. Its body was taught skin around warped bones that heaved with every exertion. It crooned under her seat and with an lazy hand she stroked its bulbous head.  
Vlash's eyes narrowed, this display was reserved only for those whom she thought were lying to her. A warning of what she would have the flesh shapers do to them if she caught them. He knew full well what it meant.  
"Go on." She urged, not taking her dark eyes off him.  
"He is... not himself My Lady. I cannot explain but I grok a wrongness in his thinking, it is slight. A hidden thing surely but it IS there."  
"Does he still lay with that beast?" Her eyes reflected the fire as she spoke, shining with inner hatred.  
"He does." Vlash replied after sparing another glance at the pathetic being under her chair. Its wheezing was haggard and low but still it eagerly nuzzled into her hand.  
"I see."  
Lady Cybek touched a small gemstone on her necklace and almost instantly a side doorway opened and in entered an Aeldari woman in full armour sporting her helmet under her arm. At her neck a collar of colourful furs taken from many hunted creatures descended into a cape of scales. Her dark hair was still wet and her eyes gleamed red.  
"You called Mother?"  
"You heard us I assume Ravarr?"  
"I did mother."  
"Good, now go greet your brother will you? See if he is still worthy of his place among us."  
A wicked grin appeared on Ravarr's face, her teeth had been filled into points. Vlash noted her poise and the weapon at her side, an Incubi's blade adorned with intricate gelded designs. His eyes watched her like a caged beast watches another animal. Getting the measure of it before it decides whether it will ignore it or keep watching. Ravarr turned and exited the room again before Lady Cybek spoke again.  
"So where has my son been for the last 400 Cycles?"  
Maraalka had been very specific on this point as regards what to tell people, especially his family.  
"Your son has been detained on errands searching for a great treasure long lost to us. In time he shall find it and when he does it will..."  
"Cease speaking." She commanded and Vlash was silent.  
Lady Cybek gave out a huff of mild irritation.  
"Not a lie clever Vlash but not the whole truth. What is it you are not telling me?"  
Vlash's eyes held with hers now a symbolic act of both defiance and recognition.  
"Much of the last 400 Cycles was lost to us. We encountered an anomaly inside a Chaos Asteroid and it trapped us in a form of stasis. We escaped after being found by a people unknown to us."  
"Yes the Tau, they are more than a little mystery and one of many which my son has missed entirely." Her hand beckoned for her pitiful pet and it obeyed, sniveling as it came to her and rested once again under her chair.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Haha. Yes, it is. Isn't it?"  
Yieggo's laugh cut through Vu'atta as the circle of interested Aeldari oogled her as they might a piece of fruit they might purchase.  
"But you must admit," Said one wearing a high and wide collar "repulsive as she is,there is an exotic element to her, something about the eyes. They are clean, like a newborn creature." He reached out and pulled her chin to face him with long fingers.  
"One can't help but wonder what such eyes would look like when they are filled with dreadful truths."  
Yieggo interceded. "Certainly but can you imagine cleaning up after those disgusting hooves. If anything betrays her peoples glaring inferiorities it is that they are still basically animals. behold."  
With the speed and confidence Vu'atta had come to expect from Yieggo the long hem of her dress was lifted with golden gloved hands to reveal her cloven feet. She did not know how much more of the Aeldari gawking at her she could stand. This night seemed endless and after who knew how long in that timeless twilight world she kept hoping that the Captain would arrive and bid them back to the safety of The Hand. Yet Yieggo was her only companion for the night and she dared not test her boundaries in this unknown place. She endured the gasps and laughs of those around her until they puttered off to amuse themselves elsewhere.  
"Come, let us away for a time." Yieggo called, taking her by the hand when the bustle about her had past. Vu'atta was grateful to be led to anywhere that was not that room of vapid and terrifying guests. Many made bids for her and several others threatened to open her up then and there but for Yieggo's pointed reminder as to whom she "belonged" to.  
The outside was wet, it seemed to always rain in this place. The sky had turned a slightly brighter shade of purple and the long balcony was decorated with monstrous statues, at least she hoped they were statues, she was learning that no degradation was beyond her hosts.  
Yieggo let out a giggled sigh and cast her eyes out along the spires of Commorragh. The rain batted her hair and mask and dampened her clothes but she could have just as easily been standing in welcoming sunlight. Vu'atta noticed that the rain was warm and despite the height and constant wind it was actually warmer outside than inside.  
"Do you like it here?" Yieggo asked innocently.  
"Of course. In the last while I have been threatened, insulted attempted to be sold, informed I am property and harassed." Vu'atta's patience was wire thin.  
"I know, wonderfully honest are they not?" Yieggo replied.  
"Honest? They are a pack of feral hounds slobbering at me."   
"You would prefer they hit their intent behind smiles and pleasing words?"  
"I would prefer to not be here at all." Vu'atta folded her arms and turned away from the ledge to look back at the indoors through the tall red tinted glass. Several pairs of dark eyes were staring at her with a variety shameless hungers.  
"He's not like them, none of you are. Why is that?"  
"Mmm finally. You're asking the right questions. I knew you would come around."  
"Around to what?"  
"Why, acceptance of course. You must accept your situation and only then can you learn to master it. This is one of the Ways."  
"Ways? Ways of what? I don't understand."  
"Another time. You asked about The Captain."  
"I did. He is, well he is cruel and he abducted me and threatened me and now he apparently owns me but... but..."  
"But it doesn't feel like he did all that?"  
Vu'atta faced Yieggo who had taken to sitting on the ledge of the balcony dangling her legs over the edge, again so much like a child might.  
"Yes. It feels more as if, no it sounds insane."  
"Say it. You might be surprised at how sane it seems once it is given voice. So much of our lies are silence."  
"I would not say that he saved me or rescued me but... It is as if he woke me up. Like I was dreaming my life away on the Voice of Prophecy and now, I have seen parts of the Galaxy not yet dreamed of by many of my people."  
"He does have that effect on people."  
Vu'atta did not give voice to her agreement, that felt like too much to mix with her growing guilt over the captured pilots. Her mind tried not to dwell on what horrors they may be facing.  
"It is true." Yieggo continued "He is not like them. Never much was if truth be told. He always fancied exploration to subjugation and interesting individuals to masses of grovelling followers. It is what drew me to him."  
"How did you meet?"  
"Oh it was many Cycles ago. I was with my Troupe and we traveled and danced in all corners of the Galaxy." Yieggo threw up her head to look at the sky. "We played our parts in all aspects of our lives. I met the Captain in a station he was visiting. He saw our performance and offered me a position as negotiator on his crew. I took it."  
"That cannot be all."  
"Oh no, there was much more of course. The shooting and explosions and all of that manner of nonsense but what I remember was his eyes as he asked me to go with him. Something in them called to me, a spirit of restlessness I have since come to reconcile with."  
"What does that mean for you exactly?" Vu'atta was beginning to find it difficult to follow Yieggo's thoughts.  
"It means I will be there when he dies and I shall sing the song of his life after that."  
Vu'atta was shocked by the candor by which she spoke of her own Captains death.   
"Are you planning on killing him?"  
Yieggo seemed to give it some thought. "Not currently, although I suspect that whatever happens Vlash will have something to do with it."  
"Why would Vlash want the Captain dead?"  
"Because Vlash is Half-born."  
"I don't know what that means."  
"He was not born of natural parents but rather taken from harvested genestock and grown in a vat. Most of them are, it is only the trully powerful and influential that can boast Trueborn children."  
"It must be dangerous, having a child of your own surrounded by such evils."  
"If your birth cycle is anything like ours then yes, although we take many Cycles to come to term and it takes a massive toll on the Aeldari, especially their kind."  
"Why so more for them? Are you not as they are?"  
"Are you not as a Fire-Caste?"  
"That is different?"  
"Why?"  
"Because they are stronger than us, Water-Caste are not meant for war, we are scientists and philosophers."  
"Not unlike those of our Craftworlds then, you have met them before have you not?"  
"Not personally but I have studied the encounters."  
"Of course you have. We are a most fascinating people if I may say so. Then let me tell you that as different as you are to others of your kind so we are to eachother. It's part of why I like you."  
Yieggo playfully bumped her shoulder into Vu'atta's.   
"So, they have a different structure? Fulfill a different purpose for your species?"  
"Yes and no. They, that is the Drukhari as we call them, are a facet of the Aeldari. They are its dark mirror, the shadow that trails in their wake. Always there but untouchable."  
"And dangerous."  
"Yes. To themselves most of all. Their way of life is to feed off the emotions of others. It causes them elation beyond words but is addictive and each time more and more is needed to sate them."  
"But that, wait that's not possible."  
"Why is it not possible?"  
"You can't exist off emotons alone the body needs nourishment to survive." Vu'atta was feeling like she had been taken in by Yieggo's fancy.  
"For most creatures this is true but the Drukhari are not at all like most creatures. They are among the oldest of our kind and their ways are steeped in the memory of our people, for once we were all as they are now."  
"I find that hard to believe."  
"It is true we have fractured into many but once we were whole and ruled the stars with blessed wisdom. Yet like all beautiful things we began to wilt. We all defy this in our own ways. The Craftworlders shut themselves in suits of armour and whisper incantations that have all but lost meaning to comfort themselves on their endless voyages, The Exodites forsake the stars and fill their home words with their spirit to nourish life in their own way and some, like the Captain try to find ways to stave off the eventual death of their souls."  
Vu'atta was undone. This talk of spirit and soul sounded like primitive ravings. How could it be that the most advanced people the Empire had ever encountered could believe in such nebulousness?  
"I do not believe this."  
"No?"  
"Spirits?, Souls? you speak in legends and expect me to believe that your people, with all of their advancements and technology still believe in superstitions?"  
"It is not superstition. The Soul exists as the Gods do."  
Vu'atta turned away exhausted.  
"You ARE playing with me."  
"Is it so much different than what you believe?"  
"I believe in what I can see and touch, all else is fancy."  
Yieggo spun about to face her. Her playful nature condensed into a hard and stiff body language of ultimate seriousness.  
"I would usually promote some interest in these truths but perhaps it is better that you do not know. That you have escaped their notice so far."  
Vu'atta was taken back by the sudden shift in her tone. She was so serious now, deathly so.   
"I'm sorry. It was unworthy of me to call into question your religion. It's just this place." She slapped her hands on the balcony ledge. "It's sick and I cannot stay here."  
Yieggo stood and closed the distance to stand intimately close to Vu'atta.   
"Then let us leave." She whispered.


End file.
